Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya subsequently said that the administrative arm of the court had been asked to take action as per the available existing mechanism.
Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) Chetan Sharma said that the extraordinary breach of the VC system had in fact taken place in not one, but several courts of the Delhi HC.
“A disconcerting breach happened in the pre-lunch session, in some courts, not just one court, that has the effect of damaging the sanctity and overall integrity of the institution,” ASG Sharma said.
He requested the court to pass appropriate directions under the provisions of Sections 69A and 79(3)(d) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, to the appropriate government “for the immediate takedown and to stop the dissemination of the incriminating material”.
CJ Upadhyaya responded: “Administratively, I’ve already instructed the RG (registrar general), we are making a request through the mechanism available for that.”
ASG Sharma then informed the court that recordings of the incident were already circulating on the Internet.
To this, CJ Upadhyaya said, “As per the rules, recording is prohibited. As per the norms if anything is being recorded against the rules, then the authorities are [enabled to take action].”
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The pornographic content was played multiple times during the proceedings in the court of Chief Justice Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.
The VC was shut down – but as soon as it was resumed minutes later, the same user again shared the screen playing the obscene content. This resulted in the VC facility being shut again.
When the VC was restarted, the user disrupted the proceedings for the third time, sharing the screen and playing the pornographic content. He also played an audio claiming that the disruption was a “hack from the United States”.
He also reportedly said, “Shut the meeting right now. Never turn it on again. You have been hacked.”
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When the VC resumed in the post-lunch session, the meeting settings were modified to “meeting is locked”. In the chatbox, the court staff warned everyone who had logged on: “Please show your name and item no. in which appearing, before your display stack else we will have no other option but to expel such participant.”
According to sources in the Delhi Police, they will probe the incident once they receive a complaint and will then lodge a case.
A ‘locked’ meeting on the Cisco Webex platform –which several High Courts including the High Courts of Delhi and Allahabad use for video conferencing – implies no one can enter the meeting until it is ‘unlocked’. Only the moderator of the meeting, who is among those signed in, controls entry to the meeting room.
Who can join the VC over the Internet?
Under normal circumstances, the Cisco Webex VC platform in Delhi HC allows any one with the court’s meeting link, to log on and witness the proceedings.
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The rules define two categories of users of the platform: “Participants” and “Viewers”.
‘Participants’ include advocates appearing for the parties, litigants in person, senior advocates, other interested persons such as jail authorities, legal aid representatives, government officials, and any other persons who are permitted by the court to join the hearing as ‘Participant’.
‘Viewers’ include various categories of persons – including accredited journalists, reporters, members of the public, and any other persons whom the court may permit from time to time. A ‘Viewer’ is entitled to merely observe the proceedings, and is not allowed to take part in the VC hearings in any manner whatsoever.
The sharing option for ‘Viewers’ is disabled in most courts, unless a presenter, host, or co-host in the meeting gives access to a user to share content, including sharing their screen.
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Under the High Court of Delhi Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts, 2021, and Electronic Evidence and Video Conferencing Rules, 2025, of the Delhi HC, recording court proceedings is prohibited without express permission from the court.
Has something like this happened in any other High Court?
Yes. In 2023, the Karnataka High Court had to suspend live streaming of court proceedings after miscreants allegedly played pornographic content during court hearings in around six court halls.
Following the incident, the video conference facilities were suspended for a few days across all Benches of the court in Bengaluru, Dharwad, and Kalaburagi.
At the time, then Chief Justice of the HC Justice Prasanna B Varale, who is now a judge of the Supreme Court, had announced in open court “An unfortunate situation has arisen. We are stopping live-streaming and video-conferencing facilities.”
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Following the hacking, Suresh, Registrar (Computers) of the HC, had approached cyber crime police and lodged a complaint. He said that unknown people had joined the video conference when proceedings were underway, “misbehaved and showed obscene visuals”.
The Karnataka HC started VC facilities after the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially, the court used an application named ‘Jitsi’, but due to security concerns it was discontinued, and the proceedings began to be live streamed on Zoom. Last year, the HC moved to the Vconsol platform.
The court has mandated prior registration of advocates, litigants, media and the public on the platform before they are allowed entry.
Earlier in 2021, Senior Advocate Indira Jaising had complained about a semi-naked man appearing during the VC proceedings in court hall 1. Jaising had brought the matter to the notice of a Bench headed by then Chief Justice of the Karnataka HC Ritu Raj Awasthi.
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Jaising told the court that she was “deeply disturbed”, called the breach a “gross contempt” of court, and sought contempt proceedings against the person involved.
“I will send evidence”, she said, adding that “this should not happen ever again.”
Following the complaint, the court ordered the collection of data of video proceedings in the court hall concerned.
