The Gujarat High Court is experimenting with livestreaming of virtual court proceedings on YouTube to increase access to courts. This is aimed at "effectuating and broadening" the implementation of the open court concept even for virtual hearings, Chief Justice Vikram Nath ordered on Monday. Starting Monday, the livestream of one bench — the division bench led by Chief Justice Vikram Nath — is available on YouTube. The link for each day can be accessed on the High Court's website and YouTube channel; links for the following day will be updated in evenings. Based on how this goes, the court will decide whether to continue with this, or try out another way to giving access to virtual court proceedings. It's worth noting that livestreaming has been permitted specifically for online video hearing; the court has not promised livestreams should it go back to physical hearings. The court's release also referenced a petition in the Gujarat HC by a Nirma University law student that sought directions for livestream proceedings to keep up with principles of open court and access to justice. The court had ruled that the public should be allowed to view court proceedings held on video, except for so called in-camera hearings, which are held in private. Like most other high courts, the Gujarat High Court had switched to virtual hearings once the coronavirus lockdown was put in place in March. In the pre-coronavirus era, access to physical hearings was allowed, albeit they require(d) certain permissions and checks. After virtual…
