The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to put in place a mechanism to take strict action against those who misuse live-streamed court proceedings by extracting clips for commercial exploitation.
“There are breaches taking place. The order was passed on a PIL filed by journalist Harshita Grover, who flagged the absence of safeguards to prevent live-streamed court proceedings from being extracted and circulated out of context for sensationalism and commercial gain. It barred the extraction, dissemination, monetisation, posting, reposting, uploading, transmission, modification, storage or hosting of audio-video recordings of judicial proceedings on social media or other digital platforms without prior permission from the Supreme Court secretary general or the registrar general of the jurisdictional high court.
The court flagged continued violations of its July 24 order prohibiting the unauthorised use of such recordings. On July 24, the court imposed a blanket ban on the unauthorised extraction, editing, dissemination, reposting, uploading and monetisation of judicial proceedings that are live-streamed or accessed through video-conferencing platforms. He said high courts had responded to the July 24 order on the impact and feasibility of continuous live-streaming, and that their responses were being examined to formulate a comprehensive policy. Also Read I ‘Orders becoming a mockery’: Supreme Court pulls up Delhi govt over firecracker curbs The bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, directed MeitY to ensure compliance with the July 24 order and incorporate measures to act against violations in the proposed policy. The July 24 order was issued as an interim measure pending the finalisation of the policy.
We want that our order is complied with,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), told the court that the government was preparing a response and would submit it within a week.
