Rajasthan High Court Dismisses PIL Seeking Live Streaming Of Court Proceedings

Rajasthan High Court has refused to issue directions for the live streaming of court proceedings and rejected a public interest litigation filed seeking issuance and directions for the same.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Bhuwan Goyal dismissed the PIL filed by one Mr. Harshit Dudawat by taking the stand that video conferencing facilities are already available to all the litigants and the facility of live streaming could not be granted as of now.

“Taking into consideration that presently video conferencing facility is being provided to all the litigants and the petition seeks specific direction, we are not inclined to issue any direction at this stage”, the bench sitting at Jaipur stated in the order before disposing of the PIL.

Advocate Sakshi Shrivastava along with Advocate Neetu Singh appeared for the litigant. Senior Advocate A.K Sharma and Advocate Vishnu Kant Sharma represented the respondents.

Various High Courts including Calcutta, Gauhati, Meghalaya, Orissa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Patna, Jharkhand and Telangana have commenced live streaming of court proceedings in the last few years. Many other High Courts have notified the Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings Rules as a precursor. These Rules would assist in setting up infrastructure and framework to enable live streaming and recording of proceedings.

 Recently, the Calcutta High Court had expressed concerns about the rampant misuse of the Live Streaming facility originally made available to ensure fairness and transparency.

The Supreme Court in its groundbreaking decision in 2018 in Swapnil Tripathi v. Union of India had ruled in favour of allowing public access to hearings of the apex court through live streaming. The Apex Court was of the view that this would form part of access to justice, which is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. 

The e-committee of the Supreme Court had framed Model Rules for Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings, 2022, with the aim of better transparency, inclusivity and access to justice. In September 2022, the Supreme Court took the historic step to commence the live-streaming of the hearings before the Constitution Benches, receiving a huge public response with scores of people watching the proceedings.

Later, the Supreme Court Registry had stated that it is working towards achieving a self-reliant live streaming platform, however, at present it is constrained to rely on third-party apps due to technical and infrastructure issues.

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising had earlier approached the apex court for live streaming of court proceedings in important cases, and not just the constitutional bench matters.

(With Inputs From Sheryl Sebastian)

Case Title: Harshit Dudawat v. The Hon'ble High Court Of Rajasthan, Through Its Registrar General & Ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 74

Case No: D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 3350/2024

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