Social media has become an integral part of each individual’s life as it is accessible through smartphones, computers, and tablets. In a democracy it is healthy to have social media platforms to express opinions freely, but this freedom of expression when misused becomes an intrusion and a social problem. In a democratic set-up, the judiciary is supposed to safeguard the fundamentals rights of citizens and ensure no one is exploited, cheated, victimised or subjected to any kind of violence by either government authorities or someone in society. Through the principles of justice, equity and good conscience, the courts ensure fair trial and fundamental rights. It is, however, very unfortunate when some third party (other than courts) tries to play the role of judge, jury and executioner. Mainstream media had been taking up this third party role but the latest trend of social media taking it up has emerged as a serious concern. Such a trend is disrupting or influencing judicial proceedings and actions by the law enforcing agencies.
In social media trials, social media platforms allow the general public as well as reporters, media houses, online news portals, etc, to develop, change or modify public opinion and give hype and exaggeration to issues that should have been handled by designated authorities/agencies. To have more and more number of views, likes, shares, comments, and earnings thereof, social media channels/news portals flout media ethics and standards, giving publicity to issues that are either sensitive in nature or have no relevance at all. They violate people’s privacy and tarnish their character. The damage done by these media trials is sometimes irreparable.
Let’s take the example of the Jasleen Kaur situation. A woman by the name of Jasleen Kaur falsely accused Sabarjeet Singh of sexual assault in her Facebook post. This caught a lot of attention in the media and the public started to hail Jasleen as a hero. The social media wannabe judges started demonising and dehumanising Sabarjeet by calling him Dilli ka Darinda. Because of this, Singh was sacked from the job and ostracised by society. He was eventually acquitted by the court because Kaur did not attend the proceedings herself and the credibility of her post was challenged by the court. But the damage was already done. It does not change the fact that the girl’s action and the trial by social media destroyed the life of someone and people just jumped to a conclusion instead of understanding and investigating the problem.
Recently, a 30-year-old woman from Anantnag died and her paternal relatives claimed that she was murdered by her in-laws. Her in-laws refuted the claims and said that she died because of a sudden heart attack. In the meanwhile, social media channels/reporters grabbed the opportunity and began a trial of the case without letting the concerned agencies investigate the matter. Some media portals tried their level best build a particular public opinion. Some persons even accessed the wedding photographs of the deceased lady and did not hesitate to post them on social media. Syed Humayun Qaisar, ex-Director of All India Radio Srinagar, while giving his point of view on such developments in social media said, “The main issue with social media is that everybody has access and everybody has an opinion. With little or no understanding we often become judgemental on most of the content that is uploaded on social media. It will do no harm to me if I write/post anything and I will not be taken to task for writing anything that does not go against the state. I can post anything I wish to post without knowing anything about the topic which I am posting. So this becomes an issue and people do not know who I am. People on Facebook usually are faceless as concealing one’s identity is not a big deal there. There are many things that should not come to limelight but are brought to limelight. Whatever is posted, uploaded or written on Facebook is taken as gospel truth and made viral like anything. So, by taking sides, by being judgemental, we are actually harming people.”
Dr Raja Muzaffar, columnist and social activist, while commenting on the issue said, “Social media is being misused by most of the people. We indeed have freedom of expression and speech but we must take utmost care while we go through sensitive social media content. We have become judgemental especially on issues like suicide cases. Once these cases are projected without hearing the other party, the audience takes it as gospel truth and then keeps on sharing and commenting on these videos. This impacts the fair trial of the case because the investigation agencies also start looking at one side of the story.”
Mohammad Hussain Zaffar, senior broadcaster at AIR Srinagar said on this issue, “Social media is used as a loose cannon and it puts credibility of every person at stake. Social media is emerging as a destructive weapon and it is one of the easiest means of blackmailing. People seldom bother to consider the sensitivity and repercussions of the content that is posted on the portals. Some sensitive issues that otherwise should not be unwrapped are brought into the public domain, resulting in provoking mischievous elements to take advantage.”
Social media can vilify or dehumanise someone over the littlest of things. For all its talk about connecting people, social media has become the exact opposite. It is being used to divide people. In social media trials the principle of “innocent unless proven guilty” has been overridden by “guilty unless proven innocent.” Every Tom, Dick and Harry keeps plunging into the field, and public opinion becomes driven by irrationality. Law enforcing agencies including police and courts will have to deal with legal issues on one hand and tackle the opinion created by the media on the other hand.
We should understand that the manipulation game that social media plays not only harms democracy but also threatens its very existence. The need of the hour is for social media to be properly regulated, its scope of work defined, and its operations reined in.

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Irshad Ahmad Wani