Bombay HC dismissed a petition seeking compulsory recording of proceedings across courts. (File)
A petition demanding video recording of proceedings in all courts of the country was dismissed by the Bombay High Court today on the grounds that it could only be done in particular cases, and that it did not violate any fundamental rights.
A bench of chief justice Dr Manjula Chellur and justice MS Sonal held that video recording of judicial proceedings cannot be regarded as a fundamental right, but may be allowed if it is necessary in a particular place or a given situation.
An earlier High Court judgment in a similar matter - which was referred to by the bench - had listed a series of circumstances where a request for video recording could be considered. This could be when the court wanted to talk to a witness through the medium of video conference in case, or in a case where the witness was not in the country, or even when a witness had a speech impediment.
Matthews Nedumpura, the counsel for the petitioner Navneet Khosla, had argued that the Right to Information was a well-recognised and integral part of the right to life within the meaning of Article 21 of the constitution.
The court said that since a previous judgment was sound and there were no new grounds for review, it did not need to pass a new order.
"For the aforesaid reasons, we dismiss this petition," the court said.
An earlier judgment had not supported live telecasts and compulsory video recordings of judicial proceedings.