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India To Get Virtual Access To Courtroom Proceedings
The Supreme Court on Wednesday opened its doors for live streaming of cases of constitutional and national importance, except those cases which involve juveniles, cases of sexual assault, matrimonial issues, being argued for final hearing before the Constitution bench. The court also ordered that to give full effect to the process of live-streaming, advocates addressing the Bench, and judges addressing the Bar, must use microphones while addressing the court.
The live streaming would be with prior consent of all parties concerned and if there is no unanimity, the court concerned will take the decision which shall not be open to appeal. The court will have copyright over the broadcasted content.There will also be reasonable time gap between the proceedings and streaming to ensure that anything which ought not to be made public can be edited.
The judgment was passed by a bench of Chief Justice DipakMisra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud. The judgment has two opinions—one by Justice Misra and Khanwilkar, penned by the latter, and the other penned by Justice Chandrachud.
In allowing live streaming of cases, Justice Chandrachud said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Live-streaming as an extension of the principle of open courts will ensure that the interface between a court hearing with virtual reality will result in the dissemination of information in the widest possible sense which will impart transparency and accountability to the judicial process.
