'Unprecedented situation': K'taka HC suspends live streaming after 'obscene visuals' played during video conference

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka suspended video conferencing at all its benches in Bengaluru, Dharwad and Kalaburagi on Tuesday after unknown people played obscene videos during live proceedings. The court called the situation "unprecedented". 

Bengaluru police have registered an FIR under two sections of the Information Technology Act that deal with punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material/material containing sexually explicit acts in electronic form. 

On Tuesday, as the court's proceedings began, Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale stated that an unfortunate situation had arisen and that the high court had decided to stop the live streaming and video conferencing for the time being. 

"We are not permitting video conferencing facilities, live streaming facilities. Unfortunately, some mischief is being played. There may be some mischief players. Technology is being misused,” he said. 

The chief justice requested lawyers not to trouble the staff of the computer section if permission was not granted. "This is an unfortunate and unprecedented situation. Otherwise, the Karnataka high court is always in favour of technology being used for better services for the public at large and the advocates,” Chief Justice Varale said. 

The court requested lawyers, public litigants/and parties in person to appear physically until the video conference proceedings are restored with new safeguards. 

In his police complaint, the high court's Registrar (Computers) stated that when live proceedings were underway on Monday afternoon, some unknown people joined the video conference on Zoom, "misbehaved and played obscene visuals" in video halls 6, 12, 18, 23, 24, 26 and others. 

The complaint, filed at the Central Cyber Economic and Narcotics Crime (CEN) police station, provided details of the streaming and the suspects' IP addresses, and requested the police to trace the miscreants. 

A well-placed police source told DH efforts were ongoing to trace the suspects’ location. 

The high court started live streaming during the Covid-19 pandemic. The first video conference hearing was held in the court hall of the then Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka on May 31, 2021. The court subsequently framed live-streaming rules. 

In a statement, N G Dinesh, Registrar (Computers), said the restoration of the video conference proceedings would be informed to the general public shortly.