Can court proceedings be recorded?
India Today
A cop being caught recording the proceedings of a Delhi court has sparked a controversy. Legal experts delve into details to determine if it is legal.
A incident of a police official being caught by a judge while audio recording a Delhi court’s proceedings has sparked a controversy.
The judge in the Delhi district court on Tuesday stopped the hearing after an official of the Delhi Police’s special branch was found recording the hearing.
The judge asked the police official who had authorised him to do so and confiscated his phone before resuming the hearing.
India today spoke to legal experts to understand what the law says about this and what is the punishment for such actions.
According to the Supreme Court’s rules on video conferencing, any unauthorised usage of live-streaming will be punishable under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, Information Technology Act, 2000, and other provisions of law, including the law of Contempt.
No person shall use a recording device for recording or for transcribing the proceedings, other than those authorised by the court.
Supreme Court advocate KV Dhananjay, who once fought a legal battle for audio-video recording of the court proceedings said, "If it is an in-camera proceeding which is not permissible for general members of the public to attend and somebody attends such a proceeding without authorisation, he could be punished if he knowingly and intentionally attended that proceeding."
