After row over judge’s comments, Karnataka High Court outlines rules on use of livestreams of hearings

A note titled “Prohibitions and Restrictions on Usage of the Recording or Live Steam” has been uploaded by the high court and is displayed before the start of livestreaming of court hearings.

“No person or entity (including print and electronic media, and social media platforms) other than an authorised person or entity shall record, share and/or disseminate Live-streamed Proceedings or Archival Data. This provision shall also apply to all messaging applications,” the note states.

“Any person/entity acting contrary to this provision will be prosecuted as per law. The Court shall have the exclusive copyright in the Recordings and Archival Data. Any unauthorized usage of the Live stream will be punishable as an offence under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, Information Technology Act, 2000, and other provisions of law, including the law of Contempt. Any party/ litigant-in-person accessing the Live-stream will be bound by these rules,” the note adds.

“The Live-stream shall not, without the prior written authorisation of the Court, be reproduced, transmitted, uploaded, posted, modified, published, or re-published in any form. The use of authorized recordings in their original form may be permitted by the Court, inter-alia to disseminate news and for training, academic and educational purposes,” the note further said.

The authorised recordings of the high court thus given for news, training purposes should not be edited or used for commercial, promotional purposes or for advertising, the court said.

“No person shall use a recording device for recording or for transcribing the proceedings, other than those authorized by the Court,” the court has stated citing the Rule 10 (2) of the Karnataka Rules on Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings, 2021.

The court has laid down the rules in the wake of the controversy over Justice V Srishananda’s comments where he referred to a particular locality in Bengaluru as being “in Pakistan” and another remark made to a woman advocate. The remarks drew criticism on social media.

The judge later expressed regret over his statements. The Supreme Court took notice of reports about the comments and has sought a report as well.

The Advocates Association of Bengaluru has called for a temporary stop on livestreaming as well as sensitivity on the part of judges. The association said that several YouTube channels added “adverse and mischievous meanings and titles” to proceedings.

The high court, however, has not stopped the livestreaming of hearings. Livestreams are available as usual on Monday.