Livestreaming of Court Proceedings

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Content

• Significance
• Skeptics

• The Supreme Court in Swapnil Tripathi vs Supreme Court of India (2018) had ruled in favor of opening up the apex court through live-streaming.
  • It held that live streaming proceedings is part of the right to access justice under Article 21 of the Constitution. However, the judgment has remained unimplemented.
• As of July 2023, seven High Courts in India (Gujarat, Guwahati, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna and MP) have initiated live streaming of the court proceedings. It is available on the website of e-committee of the Supreme Court.

­ Significance:

• An extension of the principle of open court and open justice.
  • Increased transparency in the court proceedings
• Increases accountability and responsibility of lawyers – They can’t make any excuse to the client or lie about whether they were present [for the hearing] or not.
• Help academics, lawyers and law students who study and research the law.
• Important step in maintaining archives of courtroom proceedings.

Skeptics:

• They argue that live-streaming proceedings will lead judges and  lawyers to appeal to populism and hampering of legal process.
• Also puts judges under pressure – for e.g., “now the judges are constantly worried if something
  is said in lighter vein, it might be construed otherwise”.
• Privacy Issues – Rape cases, marital dispute cases
• Security Issues – Judges, lawyers handling politically sensitive cases may face issues. National security matters being discussed and telecasted in courts may become an issue.