The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave its assent for the live-streaming of court proceedings, reported The Times of India. A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said that necessary rules balancing the right of public and protecting the dignity of litigants would be soon framed.

The court was hearing two pleas on the matter. Advocate Indira Jaising had sought video recording of proceedings in important constitutional matters, saying citizens deserve to be updated about matters of constitutional and national importance. A student of the National Law University of Jodhpur had also filed a plea demanding live-streaming of hearings in the top court, and increased courtroom access to legal interns.

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On August 24, the court reserved its verdict. During the hearing, Attorney General KK Venugopal had presented the Centre’s recommended guidelines for the purpose, as the court had asked him to do earlier.

Venugopal had reiterated a suggestion he had made in the court in July – that the proceedings of cases heard by the chief justice’s court, in Constitution bench references, can be live-streamed initially on an experimental basis. A decision on replicating the system in other courtrooms at the Supreme Court may be taken if this project is successful, the recommendations said.

The Centre suggested prohibiting the broadcast of proceedings of matrimonial cases, cases involving juveniles and matters of national security, sexual assault or rape. Cases where publicity would harm the process of justice must also not be broadcast, according to the recommendations.

Earlier, Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud agreed that the practice would help implement the concept of open courts and this would help reduce the crowd at courts. This may also be of use for academic purposes, the court had said.