Kolkata Police Starts Probe into hacking of Live-Streaming of Calcutta High Court Hearing

On October 28, 2024, during a session presided over by Justice Subhasish Samanta in courtroom number 7 of the Calcutta High Court’s vacation bench, an obscene video was allegedly live-streamed for nearly a minute before it was halted. The incident occurred on the court’s official YouTube channel, which regularly broadcasts proceedings to the public. Kolkata Police has started a probe into hacking of Live-Streaming of Calcutta High Court Hearing.

In response, the High Court’s IT department conducted an initial investigation and subsequently filed a complaint with the Kolkata Police’s cybercrime section on the evening of October 29, 2024. The police have initiated a probe to determine the cause of the breach and identify those responsible. A police officer stated, “An investigation is on. We will be checking what happened and try to spot the miscreants behind this.”

This incident has raised concerns about the security of live-streamed judicial proceedings, which are intended to promote transparency and public access to the legal process. The Calcutta High Court began live-streaming its sessions as a trial run in April 2023, following the Supreme Court’s 2018 declaration that live telecasts of court proceedings are part of the right to access justice under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The breach underscores the need for robust cybersecurity measures to protect the integrity of judicial processes and prevent unauthorized content from being disseminated during official court proceedings.

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