A contempt of court complaint has been filed against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi after he posted a video of proceedings of Karnataka High Court. Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Girish Bharadwaj has written to the Registrar General of High Court of Karnataka seeking to initiate contempt proceedings against Rahul Gandhi for violation of Copyright Act and for misquoting the proceedings of the court.
The matter relates to a tweet that Rahul Gandhi had posted on July 5th, in which he had posted a video of proceedings of Karnataka High Court where a judge was saying that he was getting threats. Posting the video, the Congress leader had added, “A HC judge has been threatened for exposing BJP’s corrupt govt in Karnataka. Institution after institution is being bulldozed by the BJP. Each of us must stand with those fearlessly doing their duty.”
A HC judge has been threatened for exposing BJP’s corrupt govt in Karnataka.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 5, 2022
Institution after institution is being bulldozed by the BJP.
Each of us must stand with those fearlessly doing their duty. #DaroMat pic.twitter.com/QxBR9FcFP8
In the video, the judge had alleged that he was threatened with transfers for his remarks against the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) saying that it had become a “collection centre”. The Judge had said that he will not bow down, even if he has to lose his job.
Justice HP Sandesh was heard saying in the video, “Your ADGP is so powerful and some person spoke with one of our High Court judge that came and sat with me and he says giving an example of transfer of one of another judge to another district.” He added that the other judge told him that there was a threat to the court.
However, according to the VHP leader, Rahul Gandhi violated laws by posting the video. He said that as per law, video recordings of court proceedings are not allowed to be reproduced, transmitted, uploaded, posted, modified, published or re-published in any form. He added that while such videos can be used only for training, academic and educational purposes, they can’t be used for promotional purposes, sharing on social media or advertising in any form.
Girish Bharadwaj has written that any unauthorised use of live stream of court proceedings is punishable under Indian Copyright Act, IT Act, and other provisions including law of contempt. He said that despite clear disclaimers, prohibitions and restrictions, Rahul Gandhi violated them and used the video for political purposes, which is highly objectionable.
“This act of Mr. Gandhi is a concerted attack on the judiciary for petty political gains and to gain electoral dividends. This malafide & motivated action has to be dealt in accordance with the law. I request your good self to take cognizance of this act, which is not just contempt of court but also an insult to our constitution, and initiate further legal action in accordance with the law,” Girish Bharadwaj added in his letter to the registrar of the high court.
He also posted relevant provisions of Rules for Live-streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings. According to rule 9.2, authorised persons or entities are not allowed to record, share and/or disseminate live-streamed proceedings of the courts. The rule states that any unauthorised usage of the Live-stream will be punishable as an offence under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, Information Technology Act, 2000, and other provisions of law, including the law of Contempt.
The Supreme Court of India had formulated the Rules on Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings after the courts in India started conducting court proceedings through video conferencing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
