NEW DELHI — In an effort to safeguard the dignity of legal proceedings, the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday instructed the central government to establish robust regulatory protocols to prevent the online misuse and malicious editing of live-streamed court hearings. The directive emphasizes the judiciary's growing concern over the unauthorized proliferation of clipped video snippets across various digital platforms.
This judicial intervention addresses a modern challenge born from the progressive democratization of the Indian legal system, which recently began broadcasting major hearings to foster public transparency. However, the unrestricted circulation of unverified or manipulated excerpts on social media has increasingly threatened to distort public perception and undermine judicial decorum, prompting calls for institutional guardrails.
Independent industry assessments confirm, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that comprehensive recommendations and insights gathered from numerous High Courts and relevant judicial stakeholders have already been systematically compiled and transferred to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for decisive action.
Looking ahead, the Ministry is expected to review the cross-jurisdictional proposals in consultation with digital platform regulators to formulate an enforceable compliance framework. This upcoming policy is anticipated to strike a delicate balance between public access to justice and the strict prevention of content distortion in the digital space.