Supreme Court bars sharing court proceedings on social media without permission

The Supreme Court on Friday restricted the posting, reposting or uploading of audio-video recordings of court proceedings on social media and other digital platforms without prior approval from the authorised officials of the judiciary.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, issued the interim direction while hearing a plea highlighting the misuse of live-streamed court proceedings and their circulation on online platforms.

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The court directed that no extraction, alteration, dissemination or sharing of audio-video recordings of judicial proceedings would be allowed without prior permission from the secretary general of the Supreme Court or the registrar generals of the respective high courts.

"As an interim measure, it is directed that there shall be no extraction, modification, dissemination... posting, reposting and uploading of audio-video visual recordings of judicial proceedings on social media or other digital platforms without prior permission of the secretary general of this court or the registrar general of the jurisdictional high courts," the bench said.

The Supreme Court also sought responses from the Centre and other parties on the plea concerning the unauthorised use and distribution of court proceeding videos online.

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Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that recordings of judicial proceedings were being misused on social media and other digital platforms.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta supported the concerns raised by Singh and said that some form of regulation was necessary.

The matter will be considered further after responses are received from the Centre and other stakeholders.