An advocate has written to the Additional Registrar General of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court lodging a complaint with regard to illegally recorded and edited video of court proceedings being circulated on social media platforms. He said that it should be taken down and necessary action should be taken against those who recorded and uploaded them on social media.
Advocate V. Panneer Selvam said that a partially edited and tampered video recording of court proceedings pertaining to a batch of appeals heard by a Division Bench of Justices R. Subramanian and L. Victoria Gowri was being circulated to advocates through WhatsApp. Some disgruntled persons had also uploaded the edited and tampered videos on social media platforms like X and Instagram with nasty comments demeaning the court, senior counsel and counsel who appeared in the case, he said.
The social media accounts displaying these videos can be identified. The account holders who have uploaded the videos have to be punished. Necessary action should be initiated against the account holders. Action should also be taken against the platforms and they should be directed to remove the edited and tampered videos and comments, he said.
Video recordings of court proceedings are prohibited as per the Madras High Court Video Conferencing in Court Rules, 2020. The Clause 3.9.4 of the Rules states “That no person shall record the Judicial Proceedings at the court site save and except an officer of court duly authorised in that regard”.
The High Court Registry will have the login details and IDs of the item numbers and can quickly identify the person who recorded the court proceedings. Actions should be initiated by the Cyber Crime Police. If necessary action is not taken such illegal acts will be repeated. Therefore, complaints should be lodged before the Madurai Cyber Crime Police and other law enforcing agencies, he said and requested the letter be placed before the Division Bench to initiate necessary proceedings.
Published – October 03, 2024 11:06 pm IST