BCI Directs State Bar Councils To Prominently Publish Supreme Court Order Restricting Circulation Of Court Hearing Recordings
LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
30 July 2026 11:46 AM IST
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has directed all State Bar Councils to immediately upload and prominently display on their official websites the Supreme Court's recent interim order restricting the unauthorised extraction, dissemination and circulation of audio-video recordings of judicial proceedings, along with the BCI's circular on social media conduct and digital ethics.
In a communication dated July 28 addressed to the Chairpersons and Secretaries of all State Bar Councils, the BCI said the Supreme Court's July 24 order in Harshita Grover v. Union of India & Ors. reinforces concerns already addressed in its July 17 circular on the unauthorised use of recordings of court proceedings and advocates' conduct on digital platforms.
It has directed that both documents be published and circulated together so that advocates and other stakeholders are aware of the legal and professional framework governing the use of judicial proceeding recordings.
BCI said "live-streaming of judicial proceedings is intended to promote transparency and public legal education and cannot be treated as a licence to extract, clip, edit, sensationalise, monetise, mock, distort or circulate portions of judicial proceedings with disparaging captions, music, thumbnails, memes or commentary."
Accordingly, BCI has directed every State Bar Council to prominently display on the homepage of its official website: (i) the Supreme Court's July 24 order, (ii) the BCI circular dated July 17, and (iii) its implementation directions issued on the same day.
The documents are to be placed together under a clearly visible heading concerning the prohibition on unauthorised use and circulation of recordings of judicial proceedings and obligations relating to digital ethics and social media conduct.
"The documents shall remain prominently accessible and shall not merely be placed in an archive or an internal circular section where they may not ordinarily come to the notice of enrolled Advocates," BCI said.
The State Bar Councils have also been instructed to forward these documents to every recognised Bar Association within their jurisdiction with directions to upload them on their official websites and notice boards and circulate them among members through official communication channels.
The BCI reminded the State Bar Councils that mere publication on their websites would not amount to complete compliance unless reasonable measures are taken to bring the directions to the notice of every enrolled advocate and recognised Bar Association.
"Circular to be individually circulated to every Advocate enrolled on the State roll and separately to every recognised Bar Association," BCI said.
On July 24, the Supreme Court passed an interim order prohibiting the extraction, editing, dissemination, reposting, uploading or monetisation of audio and video recordings of judicial proceedings on social media and other digital platforms without prior permission from the concerned court.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana said, "there shall be no extraction, modification, dissemination, posting, re-posting, uploading or monetisation of audio/video recordings of the judicial proceedings on social media or other digital platforms without the prior permission of the Registrar General of the concerned High Courts or the Secretary General of the Supreme Court."
The order was passed in a public interest litigation filed by journalist Harshita Grover seeking guidelines to regulate the clipping, editing, dissemination and monetisation of audiovisual recordings of court proceedings on digital platforms. The petition contends that selective and decontextualised circulation of courtroom exchanges is undermining the dignity of courts and eroding public confidence in the justice delivery system.
