Live Streaming of Court Proceedings

 

Live Streaming of Court Proceedings

• Recently, the Gujarat High Court has become the first Court to live stream judicial proceedings on YouTube channel.
• The High Court allowed open court proceedings through video conferencing, except the proceedings to be conducted in camera.
• In-camera means in private chambers of a judge, with the press and public excluded.
• It observed that the initiative of the live telecast is on an experimental basis and the aspect of continuing with or adapting the modality of live court proceedings will be decided based on the outcome of this trial.
• The move has been welcomed by lawyers, law students, and the public at large besides litigants, being seen as a major measure towards transparency in judicial proceedings.

Background

• All the Courts have been functioning through video conferencing throughout the Covid-19 lockdown and even after that.
• Advocates, the parties, victims, corpses, etc. all are participating in the court proceedings during the course of the hearing through video conferencing.
• Also, in the model video conferencing rules as prescribed by the e-Committee of the Supreme Court, it has been provided that the public will be allowed to view the hearing conducted through video conferencing.
• The Supreme Court in Swapnil Tripathi v Supreme Court of India (2018) has ruled in favor of opening up the apex court through live-streaming.
• It held that the live streaming proceedings are part of the right to access justice under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• However, the judgment has remained unimplemented.
• The e-Court Mission Mode Project was conceptualized with a vision to transform the Indian Judiciary by ICT enablement of Courts.

Benefits

• A live stream would help litigants follow the proceedings in their case and also assess their lawyers’ performance. People from far-flung States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala do not have to travel all the way to the national capital for a day’s hearing.
• It would keep a check on lawyers’ conduct inside the courtrooms. With the entire country watching them, there would be fewer interruptions, raised voices, and adjournments from the lawyers.
• Live-streaming will bring transparency and access to justice.

Issues Involved

• The live streaming of the Courts are susceptible to abuses.
• It can involve national security concerns and can amount to a violation of the fundamental right to privacy in matrimonial disputes and rape cases.
• The unauthorised reproduction of the live streaming videos is another cause for concern as its regulation will be very difficult at the government’s end.
• Concerns have also been raised about the commercial aspect of the whole issue. The agreements with broadcasters should be on a non-commercial basis. No one should profit from the arrangement.
• Infrastructure, especially internet connectivity is also the biggest challenge in implementing the live proceedings of Courts.

Source: The Hindu