MP high court bans sharing livestream videos of court proceedings on social media
The Madhya Pradesh high court has imposed a ban on editing livestream footage of court proceedings and uploading a cut on the internet. For representational purposes only. (Getty Images/ockphoto) While hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on Monday, a bench of chief justice Suresh Kumar Kait and justice Vivek Jain imposed an immediate ban on editing the live streaming of the hearing and uploading it on the internet media platform, an advocate familiar with the matter said. Petitioner Dr. Vijay Bajaj, a social activ from Damoh, said, “The MP high court has framed rules (in 2021) for live streaming of judicial proceedings and there is a clear provision of copyrights of live streaming are with the high court. Under these rules, arbitrary use, sharing, translation or uploading of live streaming on any platform is prohibited. Despite this, economic benefits are being taken editing and uploading live streaming clippings on many internet media platforms.” The court said the rules provide for taking permission from the court before uploading live streaming of proceedings on social media platforms and on television. “Despite this, there is a misuse of live streaming of court proceedings as the respondent Nos. 5 to 7 (read social media companies) have made mockery of the entire justice delivery system uploading, transmitting, sharing, usage, facilitating uploads etc. ‘Memes’, ‘Reels’, ‘Shorts’, etc., of live court proceedings on social platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and other like platforms,” the court said in its order. The court has sought replies from the Minry of Information and Broadcasting, Meta, YouTube, X and other media platforms within four weeks, said Mukesh Agrawal, an advocate for the petitioner. The petitioner also said the money earned the internet media misusing the HC’s live streaming should be recovered and uploaded clippings should be deleted.
