Karnataka High Court Decided To Suspend Live Streaming, VC Hearings; ‘Mischief Being Played’

The Karnataka High Court in the case observed and has stopped the video conference facility to all courts due to cyber security issues. The court in view of the Cyber Security reasons, the Video Conference facilities in all the Courts of the Karnataka High Court at Bengaluru, Dharwad and Kalaburagi, are suspended for the time being.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale in the case observed and has stated that an unfortunate situation has arisen. This court is stopping on the live streaming, video conferencing and this court is not permitting video conferencing facility, live streaming facility. Thus, some mischief is being played and there may be some mischief player.

The bench headed by CJI stated that the technology is being misused and if that is done do not rush to the registrar and computer team as to why our permission is not granted as this being something of an unfortunate and unprecedented incident.

Or else, the Karnataka High Court was always in favor of technology being used for the better services for the public at large as well as for advocates or counsels. But for the situation which is unprecedented, this court have to take this decision.

The Division bench comprising of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj in the case observed that the High Court had in 2021 begun live-streaming court proceedings on a trial basis. Thus, the first live-stream was made available on May 31, on the Karnataka High Court’s official YouTube page and the first hearing to be live-streamed was from Court Hall number one.

It has also been notified by the Karnataka High Court in 2022 that the Karnataka Rules on Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings, which came into force from January 1, 2022.