Social Media Trial: A Fate to Criminal Justice System and the Society

The Internet Platform provides rapid access to large amount of information. Technology-based "social networking" or "social media" services let people tell millions of people what happening and get answers immediately. Social media is a online platform which enables people to communicate in real time effortlessly. With the increased use of internet, it has become commonplace for the media to intervene in pending trials. The media, which has been reborn as the people’s court, starts an investigation on its own and shapes people’s opinion. Trials on social media are considered as violation of ethics. Social Media has become commonplace for social media to scrutinize the truth, like the judiciary. In a social media trial, each person does their investigation and builds a conventional wisdom against the defendant before starting a court case. It generates biases among the general population and occasionally even among judges. Because of this, the accused is not thought to be innocent. Instead, they are thought to be guilty. Not only does it interfere with the "administration of justice," but also sends the wrong singal to society. The media may subconsciously influence the judge's decision by reporting and publicizing inadmissible evidence. In our constitution, there are no direct provisions regarding the media. However, they are mentioned in Article 19 (1) (a) and limitation under Article 19(2). The main goal of this study is to look closely at how social media trials are used in India and how they hurt the criminal justice system and Indian society as a whole. This research will base on doctrinal study.