The Gujarat High Court has suggested removing videos of livestreamed court proceedings from YouTube after a specific period to prevent their misuse. The observation came while taking strong exception to the unauthorized use of court hearing transcripts as evidence in legal proceedings.
A Division Bench comprising Justices AS Supehia and Gita Gopi made the recommendation, stating:
“We are of the opinion that the videos of the Court proceedings are required to be removed from YouTube after a specific period. However, we leave it on the discretion of Hon’ble the Chief Justice. Registry is directed to apprise Hon’ble the Chief Justice in this regard.”
The Bench was hearing an application filed by the Gujarat Operational Creditors Association and its counsel, Advocate Deepak Khosla. Khosla had placed reliance on unauthorized transcripts of court livestreams, violating the Gujarat High Court (Live Streaming of Court Proceedings) Rules, 2021. The Court strongly condemned this, remarking:
“The Rules caution any party to use the court proceedings as an evidence, and in case, if it is done, (the rules) direct initiation of the proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 …reliance placed on the unauthorized transcripts by learned advocate Mr. Khosla needs to be deprecated and highly condemned, which we do.”
Khosla and his client had accused multiple High Court judges of judicial misconduct and filed a contempt plea against senior lawyers representing Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India. However, the Court dismissed the application, calling it an “epitome of frivolity,” and imposed a cost of ₹2 lakh on the petitioner for wasting judicial time.
