Bombay High Court fines junior advocate ₹25k, clerk ₹10k for unauthorised video recording of court proceedings

The Bombay High Court recently fined a junior advocate and an advocate’s clerk after the clerk was caught illegally recording courtroom proceedings on his mobile phone [Nagendra Kanojiya v. CEO, SRA & Ors].

A Bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale directed the junior advocate to pay ₹25,000 and the clerk to deposit ₹10,000 with the High Court Employees Medical Welfare Fund within two weeks. 

The Court also ordered the seizure of the mobile handset on which the video was recorded and the deletion of the recording.

The incident occurred during the hearing of a batch of petitions concerning a slum rehabilitation project. Prothonotary and Senior Master AH Laddhad (a senior administrative official) spotted the clerk recording the proceedings from the corridor and immediately alerted the Bench.

The clerk stated he was filming under the instructions of a junior in the chambers of another advocate.

The Court expressed disbelief over such conduct.

“We are really surprised. The advocates of this court are the first persons who are required to adhere to the rules of the court. We may state that there is an express bar to record court proceedings under the rules framed by the High Court,” the Court held. 

The Court added that this was a case where contempt of court proceedings could have been initiated, or where the Bar Council could have been directed to take action against the junior lawyer.

However, it refrained from doing so after observing that the errant lawyer was a junior who appeared to lack basic training and etiquette to be followed as an advocate.

Instead, the Court ordered both individuals to submit unconditional undertakings that they will not engage in similar misconduct in future.

The Court warned that any recurrence of such acts will be viewed more sternly.

"Any further violation of the prohibition against recording Court proceedings, shall be viewed with utmost seriousness and shall invite appropriate proceedings in accordance with law, including proceedings for contempt of Court," it said.

The order comes days after the same Bench fined a government employee ₹10,000 and confiscated his mobile phone for secretly recording court proceedings with his camera flash turned on.

At the time, the Bench also flagged the rising trend of unauthorised recordings being manipulated and circulated on social media.

[Read order]