New Delhi, 06 July (H.S.): Google has informed the Delhi High Court through an affidavit that it is not feasible for the company to monitor every video uploaded or shared on YouTube to detect unauthorised recordings of court proceedings.

The affidavit was filed in response to a petition seeking contempt proceedings against former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, several other leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and journalist Ravish Kumar for allegedly uploading videos of proceedings before the Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.

Google stated that directing a social media platform to prevent the re-upload of unauthorised recordings would not be legally sustainable because such an order would be virtually impossible to implement. The company submitted that such recordings are created outside YouTube, making it impossible for the platform to determine whether a particular video contains footage of court proceedings or whether the recording itself was made without authorisation.

Google further said that courts across the country have delivered differing rulings on the issue. It added that it can remove only those videos for which specific URLs or web links are provided. Beyond the identified URLs, Google hosts millions of videos, making comprehensive monitoring impractical.

The petition relates to the alleged recording and uploading of proceedings in a case concerning the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea challenging a trial court's decision to acquit Kejriwal in the Delhi excise policy case, as well as a plea seeking the recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma from hearing the matter.

Apart from Kejriwal and Ravish Kumar, the petition seeks contempt proceedings against Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Sanjeev Jha, Purandeep Sahni, Jarnail Singh, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Vinay Mishra.

The petitioner has also requested the Court to direct social media platforms to remove videos of the court proceedings. The plea alleges that Kejriwal made misleading and baseless submissions before the Court and levelled unwarranted allegations that undermined the dignity of the judiciary.

According to the petition, recordings of Kejriwal's submissions were uploaded on multiple channels across X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube with the intention of misleading the public and exerting unnecessary pressure on both the judiciary and the Central Government.

Earlier, the petitioner, advocate Vaibhav Singh, had submitted a complaint to the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court, seeking action against Kejriwal and the other individuals named in the matter.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar