Bar Council of Kerala warns lawyers not to record online court proceedings

The Bar Council of Kerala (BCK) recently issued a notification to all Bar Associations in the State cautioning advocates against recording or uploading of court proceedings conducted through video conference.

The bar body's notification came after the Kerala High Court flagged an instance of unauthorised recording of court proceedings which was shared on YouTube.

In the notification dated February 3, the Bar Council stated that the Kerala High Court through a letter dated December 20, 2025 had drawn the bar body's attention to certain unauthorised recordings of court proceedings that had been uploaded on YouTube by an advocate.

Taking serious note of the incident, the High Court had requested the Bar Council to initiate necessary action and issue directions to lawyers to refrain from such practices in future.

The council in its notification referred to the Electronic Video Linkage Rules for courts (Kerala), 2021 (2021Rules), notified by the High Court of Kerala on August 25, 2021, where Rule 3(5) clearly stipulates that "no person shall record or take photographs or publish or share the Electronic Video Linkage proceedings conducted under those Rules."

In addition to the rules it also cited para 12 of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) - Attending of Court Proceedings through Video Conferencing before the High Court of Kerala which clearly bars users and participants of the video conferencing from recording court proceedings.

In view of the above, the Bar Council requested that advocates across the State must refrain from recording or uploading court proceedings.

The notification also called upon all Bar Associations to ensure compliance with the directions and to inform the advocates about the same.

Acting on the Bar Council's notification, the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) has already issued a notice dated February 11 to its members reiterating the prohibition.

[Read Notification]