The Supreme Court on Monday got the Centre’s backing on live streaming court proceedings after the court observed that doing so will benefit litigants who will come to know what fate their case met inside the courtroom.
The Centre represented by Attorney General KK Venugopal said that on an experimental basis, live streaming can begin in few courtrooms of Supreme Court and later be extended to all courts. He said that all cases need not be live streamed as certain exceptions could be made for cases pertaining to matrimonial dispute, crimes against women, and matters involving privacy of individuals.
The Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud sought suggestions from the PIl petitioners including a law student Swapnil Tripathi. Going a step further, Venugopal suggested that already Rajya Sabha and lok Sabha have live streaming of their proceedings on lS TV and RS TV channels. He said Supreme Court too could consider having a channel on similar lines.
CJI said, “That is for you to provide.” Attorney General said that the Centre is ready but a proposal in this regard must first come from the apex court. One of the PIls had claimed that live streaming should be mandatory in cases involving constitutional importance and politically sensitive issues that could benefit law students and serve as a permanent record for future reference.
The Bench agreed with the A-G and petitioners that hearing of cases in SC follows an open court model and live streaming is only an extension of this concept.