Karnataka High Court: On 20-9-2024, the Karnataka High Court issued certain guidelines regarding usage of recordings of live- streaming of Court proceedings. The guidelines were framed in connection with the prohibitions and restrictions on usage.
The Guidelines have restricted the recording of live-stream of court proceedings to authorised persons only. Print media, social media and electronic media entities from now on will not be allowed to record or use the live-streaming. Non-compliance will invite prosecution.
The Guidelines also clarified that the High Court shall have the exclusive copyright of the recordings and archival data and any unauthorised will be dealt with as per the provisions of Copyright Act, 1957, IT Act, 2000 and will be treated as contempt of court. Furthermore, no live-stream shall be reproduced, posted or uploaded without prior authorisation.
These Guidelines have notably come in the wake of a suo motu case concerning the controversial ‘Pakistan’ and ‘undergarment’ comments made by Karnataka High Court judge, Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda. On 20-9-2024, a 5-Judge Bench comprising Dr. DY Chandrachud, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy, JJ. sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General on the same, after seeking administrative directions from the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. This exercise was directed to be carried out in 2 weeks.
Two videos of Justice Srishananda had gone viral on social media. In one video, he was referring to a Muslim dominated sub-locality in West Bengaluru as ‘Pakistan’. In the second video, he was scolding a woman lawyer for answering a question put to the opposite party’s counsel. As a joke, the judge said to the woman lawyer that she seems to know a lot about the opposite party, and that she might even reveal the colour of his undergarments next. These videos led to outrage on social media, with many demanding that strict action be taken against the judge.
Source: Press
