News Outlets Can Report Court Proceedings But No Audio Or Video Clips Should Be Utilized: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court had earlier directed, as an interim measure, that there should be no posting of the audio-video recordings of the judicial proceedings.
CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, Justice V. Mohana, Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has prohibited news outlets from using audio or video clips of court proceedings while reporting. The Apex Court clarified that its earlier order was not to be construed as imposing a blanket prohibition on the reporting of court proceedings by recognised news outlets.
The Apex Court, on July 24, 2026, had directed as an interim measure that there should be no extraction, dissemination, monetisation, posting, re-posting, uploading, transmitting, modification, storing, or hosting of the audio-video recordings of the judicial proceedings on social media or any other digital platforms without prior permission of the Secretary General of the Supreme Court or the Registrar Generals of the jurisdictional High Courts.
The 3-Judge Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana held, “The said paragraph makes it clear that the order is not to be construed as imposing a blanket prohibition on the reporting of court proceedings by recognised news outlets. Such outlets may, therefore, continue to report on the proceedings and inform the general public of legal developments and judicial pronouncements, save that audio or video clips of the court proceedings shall not be utilised in the course of such reportage. In sum, while news outlets may continue to report on the court proceedings, they shall nonetheless remain bound by the restrictions set out in paragraph 10.”
Senior Advocate Vikas Singh represented the Appellant while Senior Advocate Parag P. Tripathi represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
On the last date of hearing, the Court had called upon the Union of India to place on record a proposal, formulated in consultation with the Nodal Ministries, to give effect to the prayers made in the instant petitions. The jurisdictional High Courts were further directed to file status reports on the adoption of the Model Rules for Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings.
In its July 24 order, the Apex Court had further clarified that the order was not to have any bearing on the reporting of Court proceedings by recognised news outlets. The Bench thus took up the matter on July 31, 2026, in order to clear some confusion persisting in respect of the said paragraph.
Clarification & Conclusion
The Bench mentioned that, as per para 11 in question, the order was not to be construed as imposing a blanket prohibition on the reporting of court proceedings. The Bench thus held that the news outlets can continue to report on the proceedings and inform the general public of legal developments and judicial pronouncements. However, audio or video clips of the court proceedings are not to be utilised in the course of such reportage.
Thus, clarifying its earlier order, the Bench listed the matter on September 18, 2026.
Cause Title: Harshita Grover v. Union of India (Case No.: Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 751/2026)
Appearance
Appellant: Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, Advocates Imran Ahmad, Deepeika Kalia, Sudeep Chandra, Khushi, Zeeshan Ahmad, Daksh Sachdeva, R. Jude Rohit, AOR Anil Kumar, Advocates Onkar Singh, Avni Singh, Anshika Singh, Pragati Katiyar, Anamika Mishra, Raj Narayan Pal, Shreya Singh, Abhishek Singh
Respondent: Senior Advocates Parag P. Tripathi, Sajan Poovayya, Mukul Rohatgi, Arvind Datar, Kapil Sibal, Mukul Rohatgi, AOR Radhika Gautam, AOR Kunal Chatterji, Advocates Maitrayee Banerjee, Rohit Bansal, Varij Nayan Mishra, AOR Manisha Ambwani, AOR Sanjai Kumar Pathak, Advocates Shashi Pathak, Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Ruhi Sultana, Robin Kumar, AOR Nikhil Majithia, Advocates Rishi Kumar Singh Gautam, Aditya Gupta, AOR Udayaditya Banerjee, Advocates Raksha Agrawal, Sarah Ayreen Mir, Palash Maheshwari, Gladson Rodrigues, Shubhangi Pandey, AOR Prashant Bhushan, Advocates Cheryl D'Souza, Alice Raj, AOR Annam Venkatesh, Advocates Rahul Mishra, Agrimaa Singh, Satyarth Singh, Tejaswani Upadhyay, AOR Deepika Nandakumar, Advocates Kanimozhi J., Avneesh Arputham, Ankit Sharma, AOR P.I. Jose, Advocates Ahanthem Henry, Khoisnam Nirmala Devi, AOR Kumar Mihir, Advocates Preetika Dwivedi, Ansh Rajauria, Abhishek Mohanty, Amit Sharma, Dipesh Sinha, Pallavi Barua, Aparna Singh, AOR Amit Pai, Advocates Pankhuri Bhardwaj, Aditya Bharat Manubarwala, Tanishka Grover, Akriti Aditya Bharat Manubarwala, Charvi Virmani, Pradnya Sachin Matkar, AOR Bharat T. Manubarwala, Advocates Varun Pathak, Amee Rana, Yash Karunakaran, Vishwajeet, AOR Shardul S. Shroff, Advocates Snashank Mishra, Swati Agarwal, Arshi Rastogi, Parv Kaushik, Nikhil Pahwa, Danish Iqbal, AOR Sahil Tagotra, Advocates Shreya Kasera, Abhishek Pandey, AOR Divyakant Lahoti, Advocates Kartik Lahoti, Akanksha Soni, Shubheksha Dwivedi, AOR Prashant Bhushan, Advocates Cheryl D’souza, Alice Raj, Nisha Tiwari