Supreme Court Asks MeitY to Add Action Against Hearing Clip Misuse to Policy

The Supreme Court on 30 October asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to build action against people who extract and upload court hearing clips without permission into its proposed policy on court recordings. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana made the request while hearing Harshita Grover v. Union of India, W.P.(C) No. 751 of 2026, a batch of petitions on live streaming of court proceedings. The order says “necessary measures for taking action against those who fail to comply with directions” will be incorporated in the policy, according to Law Chakra.

Permission Still Needed to Post Clips

For now, the Court’s interim order of 24 July applies. It bars anyone from extracting, uploading or otherwise using hearing recordings on social media or digital platforms without prior permission from the Supreme Court’s Secretary General, or the Registrar General of the relevant High Court. The order does not stop news outlets from reporting on proceedings, as long as they do not share clips.

Misleading Content Drawn From Hearings

At an earlier hearing, the Court asked its Registry to forward the suggestions it had received to the office of the Solicitor General, who was to prepare a draft proposal. That proposal deals with commercial exploitation of recordings and misleading content built from court proceedings. The clips question has been before the Court since live streaming expanded, and the 24 July order is the current rule.

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Listing After Diwali

No date has been fixed. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta asked that the matter be listed after the Diwali break. Until MeitY’s policy is drawn up and the Court approves it, the permission requirement in the July order stays in force. See also the Court’s recent UAPA bail ruling and Daily Updates.

Source: Based on reporting by Law Chakra.

Image: Law Chakra.