Supreme Court Seeks Responses on Commercial Exploitation of Court Oral Observations

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Bar Council of India (BCI) and others on whether oral observations made during court proceedings can be commercially exploited, monetised or turned into digital commodities [Raja Choudhary v Union of India & Ors.].A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana was hearing a plea filed by advocate Raja Choudhary. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V MohanaThe plea before the Court submitted that oral exchanges made during judicial proceedings cannot be taken out of context and converted into commercial or political content. “Oral exchanges occurring during judicial proceedings before the Supreme Court of India cannot constitutionally be transformed into commercial digital property, meme commodities, symbolic merchandise, or monetised public spectacle detached from judicial context and institutional dignity,” stated the plea.The petition arose from Supreme Court proceedings on May 15, during which the Bench headed by CJI Kant expressed concerns over unemployed young lawyers drifting away from practice toward social media and RTI activism. CJI Kant had said that such "youngsters like cockroaches" were becoming parasites in society. This reference to “cockroaches” made during the hearing were subsequently circulated on social media and became associated with the “Cockroach Janta Party”