Live-streaming of Supreme Court hearings makes a debut

After the High Courts of Gujarat, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna and Madhya Pradesh, here is one more step in the direction of engendering transparency through the live-streaming of court hearings. The Indian judiciary has taken a new leap.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday went live with its hearings days after deciding on the same. The live-streaming of its hearings has become the talk of the town. The debut marks a new aspect. News channels are streaming the same via YouTube.

Today, all the attention is on the case pertaining to the allotment of the Shiv Sena symbol. The Uddhav Thackeray camp is fighting with the Eknath Shinde camp. The Election Commission is a party.

Live-streaming of proceedings promotes transparency, besides having the impact of sustaining respect for laws. A commentator recently said that law students are going to benefit a great deal from the initiative.

There is also this view that live-streamings will eventually reduce the halo around the judges, many of whom are known to come up with convenient, spurious, or random observations during hearings.