Shutting down not the answer: Supreme Court amid demands to halt live streaming of Karnataka High Court cases

Amid demands by various sections of the Bar to halt the live streaming of Karnataka High Court proceedings due to alleged misuse of the court videos on social media, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that 'closure of doors' was not an answer to the problem.

The apex court made the observation during the hearing of a suo motu case initiated by the top court after Karnataka High Court judge Justice V Srishananda's controversial remarks during hearings streamed on YouTube went viral on the social media.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy made the observation even as it closed the suo motu case after noting that the High Court judge had apologised for his remarks.

"Should I tell you answer to sunlight is more sunlight, not to suppress what happens in the courts because this is a very important reminder to reminder to everyone. And the answer is not to close doors and shut everything down but to say 'look how i reach these beyond these four walls," CJI Chandrachud said.

The CJI made the remark after Attorney General for India R Venkataramani flagged what he called "vitriolic" social media comments around the comments made by the High Court judge.

At this stage, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said social media cannot be controlled but anonymity attached to it makes it a very dangerous tool.

Pertinently, the Advocates’ Association, Bengaluru had petitioned the Karnataka High Court for directions to stop the live streaming of court proceedings.

The bar body sought action against use of live-streamed videos of court proceedings by the public, social media users, and private channels on YouTube.

On Tuesday, Justice Hemant Chandangoudar in the Association's petition had temporarily barred public from using or uploading videos of court proceedings which are streamed live on High Court's YouTube channel.

Earlier, the Association had also made a representation to the High Court Chief Justice to halt the live-streaming of Court proceedings.

The controversy arose after two videos of Justice Srishananda had gone viral on social media.

In one video, he was seen referring to a Muslim dominated sub-locality in West Bengaluru as 'Pakistan'.

In another video, he was seen reprimanding a woman lawyer for answering a question put to the counsel for the opposite party.

The judge was seen telling the woman lawyer in jest that she seems to know a lot about the opposite party, and that she might even reveal the colour of his undergarments next.

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the controversial comments made by the judge and had sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General on the same

After the top court took cognisance of the same, the judge had apologised.

The Court today closed the suo motu case after taking note of the apology tendered by the judge in open court.