Advocates' Association of Bengaluru urges Karnataka HC to crack down on YouTubers over posts of proceedings

The association said that the social media posts demonize, twist, manipulate and criticise court deliberations and expose pieces of deliberations in a manner which insults the whole system including the judges, advocates and litigants.

Bengaluru: The Advocates' Association of Bengaluru (AAB) on Saturday urged the Karnataka High Court to take stringent action against editing, cutting and posting of court deliberations on YouTube.

In a letter addressed to Chief Justice N V Anjaria, AAB president Vivek Subbareddy and other office bearers highlighted three emerging trends where courts, judges, and advocates will have to tread very cautiously in times of live streaming of judicial deliberations.

The letter said the social media invasion has led to several drastic consequences on advocates and their profession and live streaming has taken the reach of court deliberations to new and unforeseen levels. The association said that a new commercial market in social media demonizes, twists, manipulates, and criticises court deliberations and exposes pieces of deliberations in a manner which insults the whole system, including the judges, advocates, and litigants.

“By creating sensation in social media this market strives to get lakhs of likes and views and thereby monetize the posts and earn out of our deliberations. This has to stop as our legal deliberations are meant to educate the public and not to be made use to earn money. Therefore, editing, cutting and posting have to be clamped down with a heavy hand,” the letter stated.

The letter further said that 'shocking' comments are often posted on YouTube live streaming.

“Shocking comments in the comments section attack the integrity of the judges and lawyers based on mere viewing of the video. Thus the comments section in YouTube has to be disabled by the high court in the interest of the institution or else people without maturity will drag the reputation of the institution to the drain,” the letter read.

The letter also requested judges exercise serious caution during live streaming while commenting on advocates and their court performance. “As President I would stress on this important issue as the most vital and an issue which cannot be taken lightly,” Vivek Subbareddy said.