sting operation research paper

Paper Abstract

441. Bruce Hay, Sting Operations, Undercover Agents, and Entrapment, 10/2003.

Abstract : This paper undertakes an economic analysis of "sting" operations, in which the authorities induce, or tempt, an individual to commit a crime or comparable rule violation. The paper considers the rationales for this law enforcement technique, including its potential advantages over alternative techniques such as ex post apprehension of offenders. Two functions of sting operations are emphasized and analyzed: (1) the informational function of identifying likely offenders; and (2) the behavioral function of deterring offenses. The paper examines the tensions between these functions, and offers a model of desirable sting operation policy.

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Assessing the Ethics of Stings, Including from the Prism of Guidelines by Ethics-Promoting Organizations (COPE, ICMJE, CSE)

• Published: 21 January 2021
• Volume 37 , pages 90–98, ( 2021 )

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• Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva 1  

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In academic publishing, stings appear to be on the rise. Stings may involve a paper with nonsense or fabricated content, fictitious authors or affiliations, and may be supported by artificially created emails or ORCID accounts, the latter to offer a false impression of validation. In recent times, stings have been used to protest editorial policies or to challenge claims of peer review, with the objective of exposing flawed policies and procedures. While some hail stings as success stories in exposing poor editorial policies and publication flaws, and while others draw humor from them, very few academics have suprisingly assessed the ethics (or lack thereof) and/or criminality of such operations. Consequently, it is rare to find academic papers that are critical of such stings from an ethical and/or criminal perspective. An equally surprising fact is that ethics-promoting organizations (COPE, ICMJE, CSE), which have ethics guidelines for paper submission to a wide swathe of academic and scholarly journals and publishers, do not have ethics clauses specifically calling out sting operations, even though several of their stated ethics guidelines consider fake, false or falsified elements in an academic paper to be unethical. In this paper, some reflection on broad ethical, humor-related and possible criminal elements of sting operations in academic publishing are considered. In addition, the COPE, ICMJE and CSE ethics guidelines were scrutinized to identify any clauses that could support the argument that stings in academic publishing are unethical.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Marta Dynel (Department of Pragmatics, Institute of English Studies, University of Łódź, Poland) for insightful discussion about humor and deceit.

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Teixeira da Silva, J.A. Assessing the Ethics of Stings, Including from the Prism of Guidelines by Ethics-Promoting Organizations (COPE, ICMJE, CSE). Pub Res Q 37 , 90–98 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-021-09784-y

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Accepted : 11 January 2021

Published : 21 January 2021

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-021-09784-y

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Admissibility of Sting Operations as Evidence

Janvi johar.

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It would not be wrong to say that a free and independent media is a core stone of any successfully democracy in the world. Sting Operations is one such method used by the media to ensure transparency and accountability and give citizens a perspective regarding social, political and economic issues concerning the country at large. Though sting operations were meant to empower the society; however recent instances of profit and sensationalism have made one to question the intent of such operations. Therefore, the persistent question to answer is the admissibility and legitimacy of such operations as evidence in the eyes of laws so as to no make a travesty of justice. In this research paper, the author shall throw light the question of moral righteousness and the judicial interpretation on the question of admissibility of illegally obtained evidence.

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International Journal of Law Management and Humanities, Volume 4, Issue 6, Page 281 - 286

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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits remixing, adapting, and building upon the work for non-commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.

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ROLE OF MEDIA IN STING OPERATION: AN ANALYSIS

Democracy is the rule of the people a system which has three strong pillars- the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. But as Indian society today tries to stabilize on its three pillars, the guarantee of Article 19 (1) (a) has given rise to a fourth pillar i.e. media. It plays the role of a conscience keeper, a watchdog of the functionaries of society and attempts to address to the wrongs in our system, by bringing them to the knowledge of all, hoping for correction.

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If Aristotle‟s Politics and Machiavelli‟s The Prince have inspired statecraft in western civilizations, the Indian subcontinent has drawn liberally for ideas in Kautilya‟s Arthashastra and the great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, among others.1 In post-Independence India, Jawaharlal Nehru‟s famous midnight address to the nation on the eve of Independence set the pace for Indian policy-makers in the task of ending poverty, ignorance,

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Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research ISSN: 2582-8878 | PIF: 6.605 Indexed at Manupatra, Google Scholar, HeinOnline & ROAD

Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research

• Dec 26, 2023

A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Legal Status Of Sting Operations In India

Bhavya Saxena, LLM, IILM, Greater Noida

This research paper delves into the intricate web of legal complexities surrounding sting operations in the context of Indian jurisprudence. Sting operations, investigative techniques involving covert operations to expose wrongdoings, have become a potent tool in journalism and law enforcement. However, their legal status in India remains a subject of considerable debate and ambiguity. The paper begins by providing a historical overview of sting operations in India, tracing their evolution and examining landmark cases that have shaped the legal discourse.

It explores the dichotomy between the right to privacy and the public's right to know, elucidating the delicate balance that the Indian legal system must strike. A critical analysis of existing legislation and judicial precedents forms the core of this study. The paper dissects relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Right to Information Act, and other statutes that intersect with the legality of sting operations. It scrutinizes court decisions that have set precedents, identifying trends and gaps in the legal framework.

Furthermore, the paper investigates the ethical dimensions of sting operations, questioning whether the ends of exposing corruption or malfeasance justify the means of deceptive practices. Drawing on comparative legal perspectives and international best practices, it assesses potential reforms to align the legal status of sting operations with evolving societal norms. In conclusion, this research contributes a nuanced understanding of the legal intricacies surrounding sting operations in India.

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The Legality of Sting Operation: Critical Analysis

The legality of sting operation | overview introduction types of sting operation indian scenario on sting operations role of media in justice delivery interpretation of indian courts on sting operation conclusion the legality of sting operations, which is a specialized form of investigative journalism differs from country to country. the ethical issues revolving sting operations has been a… read more ».

The Legality of Sting Operation | Overview

Introduction, types of sting operation, indian scenario on sting operations, role of media in justice delivery, interpretation of indian courts on sting operation.

The legality of Sting operations, which is a specialized form of investigative journalism differs from country to country. The ethical issues revolving sting operations has been a long part of the debate in a civil society. Whilst, its role in ensuring public accountability and order has been welcomed by the civil society; it is also subject to criticism on the basis of being an apparent unethical and immoral way.

Sting Operation is majorly believed to be transgressing into the right to privacy of an individual and a practice to damage the reputation and image of the concerned individual in public life. In India, since no statute or guideline is governing it, the admissibility of evidence from string operations has evolved through various case laws.

A sting operation is an investigative exercise typically undertaken by law enforcement agencies or the media against an individual or a group to uncover the malpractices occurring in society. The word ‘sting operation’ was first used in a 1973 movie named ‘sting’, which depended on a plot orchestrated by two men to trap a third individual into carrying out a wrong-doing. [1] It is illustrative of the power of law enforcement agencies and the media in a democratic setup to expose the evils. However, it is often blamed to infringe on an individual’s fundamental privacy rights or a potential entrapment for someone to accept a bribe, thereby indulging in corruption.

A few of the countries like the UK, US, and Canada, have perceived sting operations done by legal enforcement agencies as a lawful means of gathering evidence. However, India has no legal setup and set guideline regarding the test for legality of sting operations except the judgments given by various courts which also fails to develop a nexus between the practices of the sting operation to its legality as admissible evidence.

Sting Operations are undertaken with an aim to look into the government’s working or acts of any individual if they are carrying out their functions against the public order. Based on the premise of purpose, the delegation of sting operations can be classified into two types, i.e. positive and negative.

The positive sting operation is exercised in light of a legitimate concern for the benefit of the public and planned to cover the government’s working procedure. On the other hand, the negative sting operation is not conducted for the benefit of the public, but with a sensationalized endeavour to build the TRP in the era of ‘breaking news’ by opting to encroach upon the privacy and sanctity of an individual or a body. [2]

India doesn’t have a specific law administering the lawfulness of sting operations and any judicial pronouncements laying down the guidelines for its regulation in the country. [3] So far the courts have decided sting operations related matter on the basis of actualities of the case. There are no hard and fast rules to determine the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the evidence obtained from a sting operation.

The courts, while deciding on different cases, have come across different situation. Resultantly the courts have not been able to reach a consensus or draw a nexus between the decisions of various courts on similar situations pertaining to sting operations. However, on several occasions, there is a common judgment where courts have held sting operations as a legal method to obtain evidence [4] , while on other they have found in to be an inducement to crime [5] or an invasion of the individual’s fundamental right to privacy [6] .

The role of sting operations in the deliverance of justice in a country can’t be undermined, and the media plays a very significant role in the same. In India, media being the fourth pillar of democracy seeks to bring out transparent democratic society or malpractices if done by anyone to the general public’s knowledge. The public entrusts the media with its duty to acts as a regulatory mechanism for those in power. Though India’s Constitution doesn’t expressly guarantee freedom of the press as an FR, various interpretations by courts under article 19(1) (a) have enshrined it as one of the basic constituents of right to freedom of speech and expression. [7]

In the case of SP Gupta v. Union of India , the Apex court also gave the view that “No democratic Government can survive without accountability and the basic postulate of accountability is that people should have the information about the working of the Government. ” [8]

However, no right is absolute to exercise in civil society; it must be done so with reasonable constraints. [9] In this respect, the media has a greater responsibility to ensure that every individual’s privacy and dignity are protected and respected. The right to privacy is one of an individual’s essential legal rights and is intrinsic to right to life and liberty enshrined under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. [10] Therefore, any infringement to right to privacy will be deemed as nothing but the encroachment upon FRs guaranteed under the constitution.

The Delhi High Court in the case of Raja Ram Pal v. Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha & Ors [11] (2007) upheld the legality of sting operations when the matter of misconduct of 11 MPs indulged in corrupt practices for taking bribe for unethical reasons was brought into the light. The case was determined as ‘cash for query’ case, and it laid down the parliamentary privileges of MPs in India. The Delhi High Court upheld the footage of sting operation to be solid evidence and not fabricated in any manner.

Further, in another case of Aniruddha Bahal & anr. v. State [12] (2010), two journalists Aniruddha Bahal and Suhasini Raj conducted a sting operation against a few parliament members, taking a bribe to ask particular questions in the parliament. The incident was of 2005, and the public was already aware of the corrupt practices of the political officials, but now they had documentary evidence gathered from a sting operation to back the matter up. However, the matter took a different turn, and the journalists were made the prime accused of the case, citing that, whether someone can offer bribes in this manner to trap and expose a public officer.

The court on this matter held that the fundamental duties of citizens enshrined under article 51A (b) makes it necessary to uphold the ideas of a freedom struggle to cherish our free nation. The right of journalists to conduct sting operations comes under the right to free speech and, therefore, the sting operation conducted by the journalists was held necessary and valid.

Notably, with no set guidelines and laws on sting operation regulation, courts have to come up with their own interpretation in many cases. A request to frame guidelines regulating sting operations conduct came up in R.K. Anand v. Registrar, Delhi High Court [13] (2009) . The case is popularly known as the BMW hit and run case where the accused who was from an influential family was driving the car at a reckless speed ran over 6-people including 3-policemen in an inebriated state.

In the sting operation by a T.V Channel, the prime accused’s defence lawyers were seen meeting the prime witness in the case and influencing him not to testify. The Delhi High Court declared them guilty, and the apex court upheld its decision. However, the request to put down guidelines for the media on conducting sting operations was refused to entertain, citing that, putting down guidelines would tamper the autonomy that media enjoys and it will be against their right to free press. A few isolated incidents of misuse of right don’t justify a complete ban on this manner of investigative journalism.

Unfortunately, there is no law in place to regulate sting operations in India, thus making it prone to misuse. It can be conducted to tarnish the image of particular persons, and in such situations, the conduct of sting operations will always mount the question of invading into the privacy of an individual. The most difficult thing then becomes to distinguish a real sting operation from a concocted one. Since media these days is very reluctant to do anything to increase their viewership, conducting a sting operation with that aim will defeat the whole purpose of this kind of investigative journalism.

Where the sting operations conducted by law enforcement officials are deemed valid and enforceable in court, the position of media and their purpose always remain in question, if it was a positive or negative sting operation. To conclude, there being no law or guideline, there is no effective regulation which will often lead to the exclusion of admissibility of evidence obtained through sting operations.

[1] Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369 (1958).

[2] Ethics of Media Sting Operations, I.A.S. G.S (April 5, 2017), www.iasgs.com/2017/04/ethics-of-media-stingoperations.

[3] Ahkam Khan & Parimal Kashyap, Sting Operations: The Role of Media as a Vigilante, https://docs.manupatra.in/newsline/articles/Upload/F02F6FB8-9560-4F94-BE8E-EC9DC6D82B7C.2-D__Media and Communication.pdf.

[4] Raja Ram Pal v. Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha (2007) 3 S.C.C. 184; R.K. Anand v. High Court of Delhi, (2009) 8 S.C.C. 106.

[5] Rajat Prasad v. C.B.I., (2014) 6 S.C.C. 495.

[6] Labour Liberation Front v. State of A.P., (2005) 1 A.L.T. 740.

[7] Bennett Coleman v. Union of India, A.I.R. 1973 S.C. 106; Sakal Papers v. Union of India [1962] 3 S.C.R. 842.

[8] A.I.R. 1982 S.C. 149.

[9] The Constitution of India, art 19(2) (1950).

[10] Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) v. Union of India (2017).

[11] (2007) 3 SCC 184.

[12] ( 2010 ) 172 DLT 269.

[13] ( 2009 ) 8 SCC 106.

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Deepshikha is a law student from National Law University, Odisha.

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