Court video takedown: Approach intermediaries first, Supreme Court tells lawyer

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court advised a lawyer who had alleged his court video clips were posted online without permission to first contact online intermediaries to have the content removed before seeking judicial action. The case was heard by a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant. The July 24 order from the Supreme Court prohibits any extraction, dissemination, monetization, posting, re-posting, uploading, transmitting, modification, storage, or hosting of judicial proceedings on social media or digital platforms without prior permission from the Secretary General of the Supreme Court or the Registrar Generals of the relevant High Courts.

On July 31, the court clarified that while the directive does not affect reporting by recognized news organizations, media outlets cannot publish audio or video clips. During the hearing, the petitioner's counsel argued that clips of his appearance in court were uploaded on August 20, a month after the court's prohibition. Initially, the bench questioned the petitioner's motives, to which he responded that his profession would be harmed by the uploads by "nuisance" creators.

The Chief Justice stated that while the unauthorized uploads may constitute contempt of court, they must first be addressed through legal means such as takedown orders under the IT Act before approaching the court itself. The counsel urged the court to keep the matter pending for now.