Question : Live Streaming of Court Proceedings

(a) whether the Government agrees with the view that judicial proceedings must be opened for public viewership as it will help the public understand the nature of judicial work, add to the democratic principle of accountability, allow the young and the old members of the Bar to educate themselves, and give citizens a chance to evaluate the behaviour and performance of judges inside the courtroom;
(b) if so, whether the Government of India has any plan to live stream the proceedings in High Courts and Supreme Court; and
(c) if so, the details thereof;
(d) the initiatives proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard; and
(e) if not, the reasons therefor?

The MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE
(SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a) to (e): A Writ Petition was filed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court, seeking declaration for permitting live streaming of Supreme Court case proceedings of constitutional and national importance having an impact on the public at large and a direction to make available the necessary infrastructure for live streaming and to frame guidelines for the determination of such cases which are of constitutional and national importance. The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its Judgment dated 26th September, 2018 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 66 of 2018 – Indira Jai Singh versus Secretary General of Supreme Court & Others has, inter-alia, observed that : (i) it is important to re-emphasise the significance of live-streaming as an extension of the principle of open justice and open courts; (ii)The process of live-streaming should be subjected to carefully structured guidelines, (iii) Initially, a pilot project may be conducted for about three months by live-streaming only cases of national and constitutional importance which can be expanded in due course with availability of infrastructure.
The eCommittee of the Supreme Court has set up a Committee to draw up Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Live Streaming. Additionally, under the guidance of eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, a sub-committee was constituted for framing Model Rules for Live Streaming. The said rules have been forwarded to Computer Committee of High Courts for the feedback and suggestions.
Live Streaming of video conferencing of proceedings has been started in High Courts of Gujarat, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna and Madhya Pradesh thus allowing media and other interested persons to join the proceedings.

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