Cops probing to identify people who circulated proceedings: HC

Madurai: Madras high court on Tuesday observed that the cyber crime police are conducting a probe to identify the people who recorded and circulated court proceedings in social media. The court also deleted the remarks made against senior counsel P Wilson.

A division bench of justice R Subramanian and justice L Victoria Gowri was hearing appeals preferred by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC). During the previous hearing, the court made certain remarks against Wilson, who appeared for TNPSC.

Justice Subramanian orally observed that the complaint made by the counsel on record for TNPSC has been forwarded to the computer committee. The committee is seized of the matter. An investigation has been launched with the help of the cyber crime police. "We will know who recorded it in a few days' time. We have already requested the cyber crime police to stop the illegal broadcasting of these videos of court proceedings, and the video has already been removed," the judges said.

The judges observed that a detailed memo has been filed by the TNPSC stating that it was not their intention or the counsel on record or senior counsel to seek recusal of the case from them. Accepting the statement, the judges recalled the order in part and deleted the observations made against Wilson. The judges said that the matters would be posted before the other bench as per the orders of the Chief Justice.

Earlier, after the video of the court proceedings was circulated on social media, advocate on record for TNPSC, V Panneer Selvam, lodged a complaint with the high court additional registrar general.

In his complaint, he stated that a partially edited and tampered video recording of court proceedings pertaining to a batch of appeals heard by a division bench of justice R Subramanian and justice L Victoria Gowri was being circulated to advocates through WhatsApp. Some disgruntled people uploaded the edited and tampered videos on social media platforms like X and Instagram with nasty comments demeaning the court, senior counsel, and counsel who appeared in the case.

He stated that video recordings of court proceedings are prohibited as per the Madras High Court Video Conferencing in Court Rules, 2020. Clause 3.9.4 of the Rules states, "That no person shall record the judicial proceedings at the court site save and except an officer of court duly authorised in that regard. The high court registry will have the login details and IDs of the item numbers and can quickly identify the person who recorded the court proceedings. Actions should be initiated by the cyber crime police. If necessary action is not taken, such illegal acts will be repeated."

Following the remarks made against Wilson, bar associations from various districts across the state submitted representations to the Madras high court Chief Justice K R Shriram and Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, raising objections to the way Wilson was treated by the judge during court proceedings.