The Kerala High Court on Thursday (August 20) issued notice to a lawyer in suo motu criminal contempt proceedings for unauthorisedly recording and uploading court proceedings on his YouTube account.

The Court also made it clear that the lawyer would not be permitted to virtually participate in court proceedings in the State, until further orders.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. today took notice of a report by the Registry stating that the lawyer has been uploading videos of court proceedings on Youtube, despite repeated warnings.

The Bench remarked that the action was made despite being aware of the fact that such practice, without express permission from the Court, is prohibited under law:

"It appears that the alleged contemnor had been unauthorisedly recording and uploading the court proceedings in the YouTube account in spite of repeated warnings in the past and being fully aware that such unauthorised recording and uploading is contrary to Rule 3(9) of the Electronic Audio-Video Linkage Rules (Kerala), 2025...The present videos, which appear to contain recordings of proceedings of this Hon'ble Court, have been published through YouTube and X without any such permission being obtained."

The videos under question are published under the titles "You be the judge. Cameras can't lie. Denial of Justice to MSMEs. Watch full video on my YouTube and X” and “Cameras cannot lie. Denial of Justice to MSMEs. You be the judge.”

The Court was of the view that these constitute criminal contempt within the meaning of Section 2(c)(i) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. However, it did not formally issue a rule of contempt for now, considering that the alleged contemnor was an advocate.

It directed that a notice be sent to the lawyer returnable with a week. The Court also directed that its order be circulated to the judges and judicial officers of the State and added:

"The alleged contemnor shall not be allowed to participate in any court proceedings in Kerala through online or virtual mode until further orders. The Department is directed to circulate this order to the Hon'ble Judges of this Court and District Courts for information. This order shall be immediately intimated to the Registrar (Computerisation)–cum-Director (IT) for compliance. The Registry shall also immediately communicate this order to the alleged contemnor."

The case is posted to September 7 for further consideration.

Case No: Cont.Cas.(Crl.) No. 8 of 2026

Case Title: Suo Motu Proceedings initiated by the High Court v. Adv. Mathews J. Nedumpara

Click to Read/Download Interim Order