Permission will have to be taken to post video of court proceedings… Supreme Court order

The Supreme Court took strict action against unauthorized use of online telecast of court proceedings across the country. Chief Justice Surya Kant said that posting, re-posting, extracting, modifying, disseminating, making money from, recording or reviewing court proceedings on social media or any other digital platform without prior permission is prohibited. The court clarified that these instructions do not apply to news reporting.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana gave this interim order that “audio/video recording of judicial proceedings will not be extracted, modified, disseminated, posted, reposted, uploaded or monetized on social media or other digital platforms without the prior permission of the Registrar General of the concerned High Court or the Secretary General of the Supreme Court.”

This decision was given on the PIL of journalist Harshita Grover.

The court made it clear that this interim direction will not affect the news reporting of the court proceedings. This order was given during the hearing on the PIL of journalist Harshita Grover. He had sought guidelines to regulate clipping, editing, dissemination and monetization of audio-visual recordings of court proceedings on digital platforms. It has been said in the petition that by spreading the conversations held in the courtroom selectively and out of context, the dignity of the court is being diminished and public trust in the justice system is decreasing.

Notice issued to social media platforms

Notices were also issued to social media intermediaries including Meta and X (Twitter). During the hearing, senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioner, made it clear that he had no objection to live-streaming of the court proceedings, but expressed concern over the misuse of edited clips being spread on social media.

The bench issued notice on the petition and made all the High Courts parties to it. The court directed the Central Government to place before the court a proposal identifying the nodal ministries that can implement the reliefs sought in the petition. The court also asked the High Court to report on the adoption of the live-streaming guidelines of the Supreme Court and the impact of continuous live-streaming of the proceedings.