Bhubaneswar: The crime branch of Odisha Police has issued a circular that allows cops to interrogate and produce in court mediapersons capturing crime incidents on video as witnesses.

The circular marked "use of video recording and voice recording as evidence in the court" asked police officials to record the statements of mediapersons who video-record crimes.

"In case of the CCTV footage of a crime or video recording of a crime by electronic media, the person who is custodian of the said CCTV or the media person who recorded the crime shall be examined as witness and his statement shall be recorded under section 161 CrPC," said the circular issued on Monday.

The circular is likely to trigger a debate in media circles as experts believe that the directive will bring pressure on the members of the fourth estate and impinge on their freedom.

They argued that mediapersons, unless they volunteer, should not be compelled to depose before the police as a witness. "It should be voluntary. The police should not ask mediapersons to appear before them against their will. We work in the field most of the time and will find it extremely difficult to turn up as witnesses," said Subhakanta Padhihary, a journalist working with a news channel.

The crime branch had earlier asked a local TV channel to reveal the source of the copy of the draft forensic report it had managed to obtain in connection with the Kunduli gang-rape case.

The draft report had been prepared by the State Forensic Science Laboratory, which functions under the crime branch.

The report of the channel had created a furore, forcing director general of police R.P. Sharma to order an inquiry. The crime branch had summoned the representatives of the channel in this connection.

Senior journalist Sandeep Sahu felt that appearance of journalists before the police as witnesses should not be made mandatory.

"Media has been helping the police by providing them video footage during crime, but it should not be made mandatory. This provision can also be abused to harass journalists," said Sahu.

Eminent criminal lawyer Siddharth Das said: "This will discourage journalists from covering incidents of crime. Besides, journalists who have quit the profession may face hardships later in case they are asked to appear in courts during trials."