SC live-streams proceedings of three benches

NEW DELHI: In a first, the Supreme Court on Tuesday took a giant leap towards transparency and accessibility as it live streamed proceedings of three constitution benches simultaneously through its webcast and video streaming on “YouTube” which was watched by more than eight lakh viewers.

The Supreme Court in its official communication called it “Truly, a historic day”.

“This is a humble beginning and the attempts will now be made to live stream proceedings in all important matters before live streaming of all the proceedings becomes the order of the day,” the top court said. The apex court added that its “statistics show that more than eight lakh viewers watched the proceedings before the three constitution benches’’.

It said that the decision to live-stream the proceedings of the Constitution benches was taken by the full court on September 20, 2022, and soon thereafter trial runs were undertaken by the registry.

“The technical support teams ensured that the live streaming was without any obstruction or difficulty and was completely seamless”, the press statement said, adding that this step will go a long way in overcoming barriers of distance and provide to citizens from every nook and corner of the country opportunity to watch the Supreme Court proceedings.

On August 26, for the first time since its inception, the Supreme Court live-streamed proceedings of a bench headed by then Chief Justice (since retired) N V Ramana through a webcast portal.