The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notices to several prominent political figures, including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh, as well as Congress leader Digvijay Singh, following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking contempt action. The petition alleges that the respondents unauthorizedly recorded and shared video clips of court proceedings on social media platforms, violating the High Court’s rules regarding the confidentiality and integrity of judicial sessions.
The matter pertains to a court hearing held on April 13, involving former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for the recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma in the liquor policy case. According to the High Court rules, unauthorized recording, uploading, and publishing of court hearings are strictly prohibited.
The petitioner, advocate Vaibhav Singh, filed a complaint with the High Court Registrar General on April 15 after observing that clips of the hearing were circulating online. The PIL claims that these recordings were edited to serve a “political agenda” and “malign the image of the court.”
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the act of recording and disseminating these clips undermines the independence of the judiciary. The petition further alleged that AAP members and other opposition leaders hatched a “conspiracy” to record the proceedings with the intention of creating a narrative of bias.
Representatives for Meta Platforms (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) and Google informed the court that they are intermediaries and do not function as “super censors.” They clarified that they do not have the technology to proactively monitor for such specific content but take immediate action once flagged. Meta’s counsel stated that the offending links had already been taken down upon receiving notification from the High Court administration.
Counsel for the social media platforms also noted that they could provide subscriber information for the accounts that initially uploaded the videos to help identify the primary source of the leak.
A bench of Justices V Kameswar Rao and Manmeet P S Arora expressed concern over the institutional impact of such breaches. “We are concerned with the larger interest of the institution. Otherwise, if we don’t control this, it would go on,” the court remarked during the proceedings.
The bench emphasized that the prohibition on recording court proceedings is a vital rule designed to protect the judicial process. The court inquired whether platforms could ensure the removal of such content more effectively and asked for clarity on the identity of the original uploaders.
The High Court issued notices to the respondents, which also include AAP leaders Sanjeev Jha, Mukesh Ahlawat, Jarnail Singh, and journalist Ravish Kumar. The court has directed all social media platforms, specifically mentioning X (formerly Twitter), to immediately take down any remaining links of the April 13 hearing.
The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has also been issued a notice to appear in the matter. The court granted the petitioner liberty to report any further clips to the social media platforms’ counsel for immediate removal. The respondents have been directed to file their affidavits within four weeks.
The matter is listed for further hearing on July 6.
