The Madhya Pradesh High Court has barred the editing of live-streamed court hearings and their subsequent usage and uploading on the internet. The direction was issued during a hearing on public interest litigation on Monday, wherein a bench headed by Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain ordered the continuance of stay on any such editing of the live-streamed hearings used for distribution on internet platforms with immediate effect.
Petitioner Dr. Vijay Bajaj, a social activist based in Damoh, referred to the fact that in 2021, the High Court of Madhya Pradesh had framed regulations about the live streaming of court proceedings, wherein copyrights of such live streams would remain with the court. Arbitrary sharing, translation, or uploading of the same had been prohibited. However, it was observed that most internet media have been making money by editing and sharing clips from these live streams.
The court held firmly that any recording of the court’s proceeding should not be uploaded on social media or television without prior permission. Expressing concern regarding the misuse of the live streaming of court proceedings, the top court said some social media companies had made a mock of the dispensation of justice by way of creating and sharing ‘memes,’ ‘reels,’ and ‘shorts’ from the court proceedings on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
The court has, in turn, asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and major media platforms like Meta, YouTube, and X to respond within four weeks. The petitioner also asked that these platforms recover profits by misusing the High Court’s live streams and taking down unauthorized clips.
