Written by T. Sandeep
A few weeks ago, a video clip of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud warning a senior counsel — that he will be sent out unless he follows court procedure and remains silent — was trending at the top across social media.
The proceedings, which were live-streamed, related to the NEET-UG case and the lawyer at the centre of it was Mathews J Nedumpara.
The CJI seemed disappointed as the advocate did not follow his order to remain silent for the moment and let his counterpart submit his case. The CJI then was seen warning the lawyer Nedumpara that he will be sent out by the security personnel.
This incident showed to the public that a judge is the sole authority of the courtroom proceedings.
Asked for their opinion, many young lawyers told this website that the action of CJI was on point as Nedumpara didn’t follow the rules of court proceedings. ‘Judge is the sole master’ when it comes to the court proceedings, and not following the judge’s order results in contempt of court, they said.
Before this incident, another viral video showed a High Court judge losing his cool over an IAS officer not following the court order. In another instance, a judge was unhappy with the attire of a civil servant while appearing before the court. These videos of court proceedings have been trending across all social media platforms and getting huge traction.
This changes the perception of common people with regard to court proceedings. Coverage in the mainstream media is marginal and tends to focus on judgements rather than the courtroom drama. In movies, it’s more drama than real.
However, things changed after 28th September 2018, when the Supreme Court in the Swapnil Tripathi case accepted in principle the idea of live-streaming cases of public importance. The implementation of the live-streaming cases has begun from September 27, 2022. Prior to that, the Supreme Court live-streamed on the retirement day of former CJI N.V. Ramana.