The lawfulness of Sting Operations ranges across countries. It is a type of research journalism that is advanced. There have been numerous decisions to establish the admissibility of sting operations in India. It is not regulated by a specific law or regulation. The rotating ethics of sting operations in civilian society has long been a controversy. Civil society has embraced its role in fostering public order and imposing transparency in public life but has also been blamed for being seemingly ethical and unethical and transgressing the individual's privacy and freedom and harming his reputation and public image. A sting operation is an operation intended to capture a criminal committing a crime of deception. Usually, a sting operation involves an undercover body, such as the police or the newspaper, which induces a suspect to commit a crime in order to manipulate them in a red-handed way. They may pose a criminal themselves, thereby setting up a trap in terms of an enticing bid, sometimes referred to as a honey trap; if the victim takes the bait, the trappers "sting" it by means of arrest or publication.

1. STING OPERATION AS
EVIDENCE IN INDIA
By:-
P.BHUVAN DEEPAK
BBA,LLB
121833201037

2. OUTCOMES OF PRESENTATION
• What is a Sting Operation?
• What are the forms of Sting Operations?
• What is the Status of Sting Operation In India?
• What is the status Of Sting Operations In Other
Countries?
• What are the complications Involved in Sting
Operation?
• Its Admissibility Status in Court Of law In India?

4. MEANING OF WORD ‘STING’
• The word 'Sting Operation' seems to have come from the Title
of a famous film called the “THE STING" occasionally
screened in 1973.
• The film was based on a few complicated plots of two people
who have hatched a convoluted scheme to trick a third party into
getting a felony committed. A tricky process that was developed
to catch a suspect has created significant problems of morals and
ethics.

5. WHAT IS STING OPERATION ?
• Operation designed to catch a person committing
a crime by means of deception.
• Also Known as :
- INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM.
- UNDERCOVER JOURNALISM.
• Sting operation are often defined as information
gathering exercises.
• Exercises which expose corruption and misdeeds
of people in power.
• The critical question is, "How far can the media go
and to what extent should a person be informed?"

6. FORMS OF STING PERATIONS
• 2 TYPES OF STING OPERATIONS:

7. FORMS OF STING OPERATIONS
• POSITIVE STING OPERATION :-
These activities are conducted for the benefit of the
public and are concerned with keeping the government
responsible by revealing and bringing to light its
malpractices. It aims to make the government more
honest.
• NEGATIVE STING OPERATION:-
These are not conducted for the good of humanity, but
rather to infringe the rights of others in behalf of the
selfishness of obtaining so-called 'breaking news' in
order to obtain the audience's attention. They have no
constructive motive behind them.

8. STING OPERATIONS IN INDIA
• The practise began some years ago-
Tiny cameras hidden in handbags or pens
of journalist that intruded into the dark
recesses of homes and offices of people of
consequence to bring out elements of truth
that rocked the whole nation.
• Cricketers who fixed matches, public
officers on the take and politicians who
had no qualms in stuffing money into their
drawers were the first lot of people to fall
prey to this covert operations.

9. TEHELKA –NEWS MAGZINE
• Indian Weekly Magazine under the editorship of
Tarun Tejpal.
• Started the trend of hidden cameras to carry out
sting operations.
• Instrumental in Exposing important cases of
corruption and misdeeds of high and mighty.

10. SOME SIGNIFICANT STING OPERATIONS
• Operation West End – 2001
Targeted several members of the then
ruling coalition, the National Democratic
Alliance, headed by BJP's Atal Behari
Vajpayee. It showed several political
figures, as well as army top brass, colluding
to take bribes in order to approve defence
contracts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsuUIRiVlsU&ab_channel=tehelkatv

11. Gujarat Riots - October 2007
• Tehelka published the findings of an
elaborate,6-month long investigation into
the 2002 Gujarat Riots that followed the
burning of a passenger train carrying Hindu
pilgrims. Dubbed Operation Kalank, the
sting claimed to show that the riots were
not a spontaneous Hindu backlash in
response to the Godhra train burning
incident, but an organised program carried
out in full knowledge and sanction of
Gujarat state government.

12. • After Supreme Court recently denounced sting operations as
money-making ventures.
• A Bill, slated to be considered by Parliament has been
designed to overhaul the existing Broadcasting Services
Regulation Bill and proposes to arm the central government
with powers to even cancel the licence of broadcasters in the
public interest.
• Though there has been no progress in this matter, many see
this as an effort by the high and mighty to clip the wings of
investigative journalists in an attempt to safeguard their own
interests.

13. The Indian Hockey Federation - April 2008
• The then Indian Hockey Federation
secretary K.Jyotikumaran was caught on
camera accepting a bribe from a journalist
to include a player into the team for the
Azlan Shah Tournament. Following which
he was removed and a new committee was
set up.

14. The Cash for Vote Scam-June 2008
• Sting was carried by CNN-IBN in 2008
• To expose the cash-for-votes scandal.
• Sonia Gandhi led UPA allegedly bribed other party
MPs to survive a confidence vote in Parliament
• Sting showed tape showing Amar singh giving money
to BJP MPs
• Money was given to favour my confidence vote on
Indo-US nuclear deal says BJP MP

15. Casting couch exposed by India TV
• India TV exposed actors Shakti Kapoor and
Aman Verma
• Both were allegedly involved in seeking
sexual favors from struggling actors
• India TV sent an undercover agent
asstruggling actor to do Sting Operation
• Shakti Kapoor was caught on tape seeking
sexual favors from actor.

16. Zee News exposed by Jindal Group
• Sting operation by Jindal Group delegates
• Sting on two editors, Sudhir Choudhary and
Sameer of Zee news
• Two were arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly
demanding Rs 100 crores to drop news report
accusing Jindal and his company for alleged
involvement in the coal block allocation scam.

17. False Sting operation-Delhi 2007
• On August 30th ,Uma Khurana a school
teacher from Delhi, lost her job, faced a
violent mob and spent a week in jail after a
sting operation claimed she lured students
into the flesh trade. - On September 10th a
Delhi Court granted her bail saying she
was a victim.

18. WILL WE REALLY NEED STING OPERATION?
• In the case of State of UP v. Raj Narain, Justice Mathews
ruled,' The people of this country have a right to know every
public act, all that their public representatives do in a public
way. Their right to know is born from the freedom of
expression principle.‘
• In Bombay Newspapers (Indian Express) Pvt. Ltd. and
Ors v. Union of India, The Court stressed that freedom of
the press and information are 'vital to the implementation of
human rights' and depended on Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Public interest and undercover
operation must be the centre of news and represent it, much
of the time.
• In S.P. Gupta v/s Union of India case SC Justice Bhagwati
Verdicts that No democratic government can survive without the
accountability and Basic Postulate of accountability is that the
people should have the information about the working of
government.

19. COMPLICATION IN STING OPERATION
• Any independence will lead to chaos if left unchecked. Sting
operations can be an act of press freedom, but they have an
inevitable obligation to protect others' privacy.
• TV stations are resorting to sensationalized journalism in
order to maximize their TRPs. Freedom of speech is not
absolute, but under Article 19(2) it is limited by some
explicitly defined limits.
• After such media attention, the person who is the target of a
press or television item has his or her character, image or
career dashed to the ground. It violates his constitutional
right to live with integrity and respect and the right to privacy
granted to him by Article 21 of the Constitution.

20. STATUS OF STING IN OTHER COUNTRIES
• In the United States of America, sting
operations are legal. They are the bread
and butter of the enterprise on the basis of
the FBI's truth.
• In Britain too, albeit in a small way, sting
operations are considered legitimate.
• Sting Operation is a major no-no in
Sweden.

21. STING OPERATION AND THEIR
ADMISSIBILITY AS EVIDENCE
• The Act on Evidence, 1872, specifically separates
fact from the evidence and must first fulfill three
preconditions in the law of evidence.
• Which can be interpreted and structured as three
doors of evidence in order for any text, electronic
record or oral testimony to constitute proof and be
considered during final adjudication.
• First, the relevance of the fact sought to be
proved, second, the admissibility of the evidence
to be used to prove the fact, and third, the
reliability of such evidence, which the Evidence act
leaves to the judge’s discretion.

22. STING OPERATION AS EVIDENCE
• There has been an ongoing debate on the
legality of sting operations and their
subsequent admissibility as evidence in a
court of law, with different courts taking
different views.
• But, beyond this second door of
admissibility lies reliability, an issue that
becomes exponentially more important in
cases where the courts are supposed to be
guided by this audio or video recording
obtained without the knowledge of the
person who was the subject of such
recording.

23. DEEPFAKE SOFTWARE

24. AUDIO-VIDEO EVIDENCE
• The legal requirement for audio-video recordings
currently does not require authentication by a forensic
expert. Just a 65-B certificate is the standard for all
electronic documentation, ranging from electronic mails
to comprehensive documents and even audio-video
recordings.
• But, the authentication provided by such a certificate
should not be enough in cases of sting operations for
two major reasons, first, the person submitting the
certificate is only supposed to state that the recording
is true to the best of her/his knowledge. In cases where
a doctored audio-video recording is being submitted as
evidence before the court, the person is already
committing an act punishable under the IPC
by fabricating evidence. Therefore, submitting a 65-B
certificate to increase the recording’s credibility isn’t
difficult.

25. 2 REASONS
• Second, on the scale of probative value v/s prejudicial
value, audio-video recordings is more prejudicial than any
forged electronic mail or call detail records. This is because
visual representation has a greater ability to cause prejudice
to the defendant’s case.
• As can be seen from the case of Raj Veer Singh v State of
U.P., where even though the defendant did not commit the
crime of accepting a bribe but just because the video footage
showed him engaging with the people who were trying to
bribe him, the court felt that some form of punishment was
still necessary. The courts already enjoy a lot of discretion in
determining the meaning and context of admissions made in
the recordings. But the technological authenticity of a
recording is a scientific fact, capable of being ascertained by
the right expert. Thus, the courts using their discretion to
determine such authenticity is not just reckless, but an
opportunity for the litigants to game the criminal justice
system.

26. CONCLUSION
• The current state of affairs is not only insufficient to
responsibly handle and consider evidence procured
through sting operations, but also dangerously
vulnerable to being misled by completely fabricated
evidence. Evidence collected through sting operations
is incriminating enough to place the defense at a
strategic disadvantage from the very start of the trial.
Thus, in cases where the admission of such
incriminating facts is to be made admissible in the court
proceedings, the courts should tweak the doors of
evidence a bit to make reliability a mandatory pre-
condition for even considering the issue of admissibility
of such evidence.