Live streaming of hearings subject to judge's approval: Bombay HC

Mumbai: Months after launching live streaming of court proceedings, the Bombay High Court has now issued a notice saying the streaming would be subject to the consent of the presiding judge.

The judge of a court is the designated officer empowered to sanction access to copies of the live-streamed recordings, the notice issued on Monday said.

As per the Bombay High Court Rules for Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings, all proceedings will be live-streamed only "subject to consent of the Judge/Judges", it said.

The notice came on the day when Chief Justice of India B R Gavai raised concerns over a morphed video circulating on social media that falsely showed a shoe-throwing incident in his courtroom.

In July this year, the HC began live streaming initially from five of its benches in a move to boost judicial transparency and public access to court hearings.

While some of the benches refrained from going live, a few single benches commenced live streaming of their proceedings.

The Supreme Court has been live-streaming the proceedings of all its courts since last year.