The Supreme Court on Friday banned the posting or uploading of audio-video recordings of Court proceedings without the prior permission of the concerned Court, NDTV reports.
A bench led by CJI Surya Kant passed an interim order that read, "there shall be no extraction, modification, dissemination, posting, re-posting, uploading or monetisation of audio/video recordings of the judicial proceedings on social media or other digital platforms without the prior permission of the Registrar General of the concerned High Courts or the Secretary General of the Supreme Court."
The Supreme Court has clarified that the order has no effect on news reporting.
The order was passed while the Court was hearing a public interest litigation seeking restrictions on the livestreaming and circulation of videos of court proceedings.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Vikas Singh said that he did not personally see a problem with livestreaming but raised concerns over the manner in which clips from judicial proceedings were being circulated and used online. Referring to an incident involving proceedings before Justice K.V. Viswanathan, Singh said the circulation of such content had turned the matter into a "joke." Solicitor General Tushar Mehta supported Singh's submissions.
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Justice Joymala Bagchi observed that regulating data was one of the biggest challenges in the digital space. She said, "Regulating data is one of the biggest challenges in digital space. So we should ensure limited access and therefore restrict live stream itself. Parties must expressly make prayer that I want to see. It can't be 24/7 Entertainment channel by Court," as reported by NDTV.
Chief Justice Surya Kant also observed that the issue required people to engage with court proceedings and orders in their proper context rather than relying on selectively edited or circulated video clips.
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