Live streaming of court proceedings successfully commenced by the Delhi High Court

For the first time, Delhi High Court has live streamed the hearing of a matter on its official website in order to make the court proceedings easily accessible to all.

The high court in a statement mentioned that the proceedings of court no. 1 comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula in a case was "successfully" live streamed from 10:33 AM to 11:43 AM.      

"With a view to make the court proceedings easily accessible to all in this digital age, the High Court of Delhi, under the guidance and visionary leadership of Hon'ble Chief Justice and Hon'ble Information Technology Committee, made this seminal achievement of live streaming of court proceedings in furtherance of its various ICT-enabled services for the benefit of lawyers, litigants and public at large," the statement said.

For now, the live streaming of court proceedings will be conducted on a case to case basis, as per the directions of the court and the live streaming of court proceedings will start very soon in the high court's court no. 39, where another division bench conducts its proceedings, it said.

The public interest litigations are generally dealt by Court no. 1 of the high court.   

The statement highlights that the necessary infrastructure for live streaming has been installed by the Public Works Department in coordination with the information technology and caretaking branches of the high court.

An earlier communication from the high court had clarified that the live-streamed content is for information purposes only and shall not constitute the official record of the court proceedings.

It is also mentioned that apart from those authorized, no other person/entity, including print and electronic media, and social media platforms shall record, share and/or disseminate the content.

In January, the high court had notified the rules for live streaming and recording of proceedings.

'Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings Rules of the High Court of Delhi, 2022', framed by the high court with the prior approval of the lieutenant governor of Delhi, came into force from January 13 when they were published in the gazette.

As per the rules, all proceedings will be live-streamed by the court excluding matrimonial, child adoption and child custody matters, cases concerning sexual offences and gender-based violence against women, and matters registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.