[Live streaming of cases] If Supreme Court can't implement own judgments, how will others respect it? Indira Jaising

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising on Sunday lamented the Supreme Court's lack of action pursuant to its judgment that called for live-streaming of cases of constitutional importance..She remarked that it was more than four years ago that the apex court, in a reasoned judgment, said that live-streaming was akin to a fundamental right. However, it is yet to be implemented. "Till today, the Supreme Court has not framed those rules and live-streamed. If you ask me the question, I will say I'm disappointed. If the Supreme Court can't implement its own judgments, then how will others respect the Court?".The senior counsel made the comment in response to a question by satirist Akash Banerjee at the launch of the book 'How Gourango lost his O', authored by Senior Advocate Sanjay Ghose..Jaising was responding to a question perceptions about the judiciary and whether the judges are aware of the same. Jaising, one of the petitioners in that plea before the Supreme Court in the live streaming case, highlighted her intent behind filing the petition. She said that it was an idea whose time had arrived in the age of social media, one that was capable of preventing the spread of misinformation. "Insofar as tweets are concerned, we already see them today. Every single law portal is putting out tweets in real time. One of the reasons that propelled me to file this petition was that disinformation could be prevented," she said. .Jaising also weighed in on the recent sedition issue, opining that the law had developed into a policy of abuse of process."What I think is, the use of laws such as Sedition has been elevated to the level of a policy. It's not what we normally call an aberration. It's a policy of abuse of process that we are witnessing and it's a big challenge before the judiciary."In her opinion, the battles of the future were going to be fought in courtrooms and lawyers needed to rise to the occasion..The Senior Advocate took a hopeful view of future of the legal profession, appreciating the way young lawyers rose to the challenge in defending those accused of Sedition, particularly in relation to the Delhi Riots of 2020."I do see a group of very enthusiastic young lawyers in this country and I salute them. The manner in which they rose to defend the accused in the Delhi Riots, the way in which they have taken Sedition cases to court."However, she stressed the importance of establishing structures to make sure lawyers passionate about human rights and legal aid work are well-paid. "I believe that young lawyers who want to do legal aid work...We have an amazing system of legal aid in the county. I don't understand why these young lawyers are not employed by our legal aid boards. Why are they expected to work for free?".[Read a live account of the event below]

[Live streaming of cases] If Supreme Court can't implement own judgments, how will others respect it? Indira Jaising

Shagun Suryam

Related Stories