Police Launch Investigation into Broadcasting of Sexual Content During Karnataka HC Video Proceedings
Bengaluru, 7th Dec. A top Karnataka High Court official has filed a police complaint alleging that unknown people transmitted sexual content during video conference hearings in several of the high court chambers.
According to officials, the Bengaluru cybercrime police have collected the IP addresses from where the sexual content was transmitted to the court halls and have launched an inquiry.
According to N Suresh, the registrar (computers), the video conference sessions in court rooms 6, 12, 18, 23, 24, 26 were disrupted on December 4 when sexually explicit content was broadcast from two IP addresses on the HC video links for the courts.
According to an officer, the police filed a First Information Report (FIR) on December 4 under sections 67, 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 on allegations of transmitting sexually explicit content in an electronic form.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice P B Varale announced the suspension of the high court’s live streaming and video conferencing services in light of the heinous acts.
“An unfortunate situation has arisen. We are not permitting video conferencing facilities, live streaming facilities. Unfortunately some mischief is being played,” the Chief Justice stated on Tuesday.
Advocates have been asked to cooperate with the high court until the offenders of the content transmission are found.
The high court’s video sessions were enabled in 2021, during the Covid-19 crisis, and have remained an alternative for advocates to present their claims to the high court.
The current incident is not the first time that the Karnataka High Court sessions have been disrupted owing to inappropriate behavior over video feeds to the courtrooms.
The HC registry filed a police report last year after three unidentified people disrupted a virtual court hearing in court hall No. 4. The three disturbed the proceedings in the court hall of the division bench of Justice G Narendar and Justice P N Desai on June 28, 2022, according to the police case recorded under section 66 of the IT Act for computer offenses. According to the complaint, the incident was disrespectful to the court and disturbed proceedings.
The Supreme Court issued a warning in February 2022 to a man who showed up inappropriately clothed for a virtual hearing on November 30, 2021. It dropped the contempt charges after the guy, an official at a private institution, apologized. The HC first ordered the collection of data from video proceedings in courtroom No. 1, where the guy appeared without proper clothes. In light of the apology, the court noted that the college administrator “should exercise caution in the future.”
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