Orissa High Court to begin live streaming of court proceedings soon; releases Live Streaming Rules effective from August 2

The Orissa High Court has decided to commence live streaming of its proceedings soon. .Towards this end, the Court on Wednesday released High Court of Orissa Live Streaming of Court Proceedings Rules, 2021 that will come into force from August 2, 2021.The Rules have been brought into effect with the aim to implement the concept of open court.“With the objective of effectuating and broadening the implementation of Open Court concept during the physical, virtual as well as hybrid hearings, the High Court of Orissa do hereby make the following rules.”.The Rules clarify that the platform and mode of live streaming will be notified by the High Court from time to time..Matters pertaining to sensitive disputes will not, however, be streamed live. These include matrimonial matters, matters involving children and juveniles, cases relating to sexual offences, cases concerning gender-based violence, matters protected by the Official Secrets Act or concerning national security, habeas corpus petitions etc..The Rules also specifically state that should there arise a disagreement between judges on a bench regarding whether proceedings may be live-streamed, the proceedings will not be live-streamed.Restrictions have also been placed on the re-use of recordings for any unauthorised purposes or as evidence.“Unauthorised use/re-use, capture, editing/re-editing, distribution/re-distribution, or creating derivative works or compiling the live streamed feed/videos or using the same for any purpose, in any form, will not be permitted. The live streamed feed will not be admissible in any proceedings before any Court of law.”.The Rules do, however, provide scope for the relaxation of all the restrictions laid down by way of the Chief Justice’s orders..The Gujarat High Court had become the first court in the country to formally launched the live streaming of all its Benches.Chief Justice of India NV Ramana also hinted at the inaugural event that the Supreme Court might soon start live streaming of court proceedings from at least some of the courtrooms of the top court..[BREAKING] Keen to start live streaming of Supreme Court proceedings; working on full court consensus: CJI NV Ramana.[Read Orissa Rules]