The Karnataka High Court suspended the live-streaming of its court proceedings on Tuesday, highlighting the recent misuse of the video conference facility. Chief Justice PB Varala also asked all the stakeholders to cooperate with the decision taken in the interest of the judicial institution.
The decision to stop live-streaming and video-conferencing of court proceedings was announced by Chief Justice Varala right before an abrupt halt of the live-stream or video-conference stream to the courtroom moderated by him.
Chief Justice Varala said, "We are stopping all the live streaming. Video conference, we are not permitting. Unfortunately, some mischief is being played, there may be something at the level of technology or some people. Don’t immediately rush to the Court Registry and make complaints on 'why our permission is not granted.' This is something unfortunate, the situation is unprecedented. Otherwise, Karnataka High Court was always in favour of using technology for the public at large.”
“Please cooperate, please request your colleagues not to rush to the computer team, the Registry. This is the interest of the system, the institution rather. Even if some members of the press, may not be aware. Please tell them. You have to cooperate," the Chief Justice added, as per Bar & Bench.
The live streaming of court proceedings in all three benches of the Karnataka High Court at Bengaluru, Dharwad and Kalaburagi, has been stopped citing the cyber-security concerns, according to Bar & Bench.
The administrator overseeing the live-streamed court proceedings earlier in the day told the attendees in the Zoom conference that in order to continue in the virtual meeting, they would need to provide their name and the item number of the case they wanted to follow. Nevertheless, the virtual hearings were suspended entirely after the judges assembled.
Moreover, theSupreme Court recently rebuked high courts for stopping to provide virtual access to court proceedings after the subsidence of the pandemic. (Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)
