Court hearings may go live soon

New Delhi, Sept. 26: The Supreme Court Wednesday took a major leap in imparting transparency in the functioning of the judiciary by allowing livestreaming of court proceedings of cases of constitutional and nati-onal importance, saying this openness was like “sunlight” which is the “best disinfectant”.

It said as a pilot project, only a specified category of cases which are of constitutional or national importance and are being argued before a constitution bench, should be live streamed. Court said that sensitive cases such as those dealing with matrimonial disputes or sexual assault should not be live streamed.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, in two different but concurring judgements, said “we hold that the cause brought before this court by the protagonists in larger public interest, deserves acceptance so as to uphold the constitutional rights of public and the litigants in particular”.

“Above all, sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Justice Chandrachud, writing a separate concurring verdict, said, adding that live streaming “as an extension of the principle of open courts will ensure that the interface between a court hearing with virtual reality will result in the dissemination of information in the widest possible sense, imparting transparency and accounta-bility to the judicial process”.

Highlighting the contours of the live-streaming mechanism, Justice Khanwilkar said, “To begin with, only a specified category of cases or cases of constitutional and national importance being argued for final hearing before the Constitution bench be live streamed as a pilot project”. —PTI