Live Streaming Of Hearing: Supreme Court Says Begin With Key Cases On Experimental Basis
Venugopal told a bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud that the Centre was of the opinion live streaming of court proceedings could be done on an experimental basis rather than full scale.
New Delhi, July 24: Attorney general K K Venugopal on Monday told the Supreme Court that it should start with live streaming of its proceedings for only important cases before constitution benches. These proceedings will be held on an experimental basis. According to a report by TOI, after considering the suggestions of petitioners, Venugopal told a bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud that the Centre was of the opinion live streaming of court proceedings could be done on an experimental basis rather than full scale.
The AG said if the proceedings of important cases are live telecasted, it would reduce the crowd inside the court. During the last hearing, the CJI-led bench had said, “As a principle, (live telecast) is an acceptable concept. Our courts are open courts. We can extend the openness to the virtual world.”
Reports inform that the bench agreed that there should be some kind of experimentation and depending on its success, response and technical feasibility, the SC could gradually expand live streaming to other courtrooms. With the latest development, the AG told the apex court to live stream proceedings of important matters in the CJI’s courtroom. The TOI report further informs that the bench asked the AG to give a concrete proposal in a week along with technical feasibility and manner of usage of the footage of court proceedings.
According to the TOI report, petitioner Indira Jaising said that as social media has little control, no person should be allowed to create video clips of court proceedings and circulate it on social media. Jaising added saying that telecast footage must not be used by anyone for commercial purposes.
Advocate Virag Gupta, appearing for some law students said that live telecast of proceedings was a welcome step. Gupta warned of the pitfalls in the age of social media and possible intrusion into litigants’ privacy.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 24, 2018 10:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).