Kerala HC Initiates Contempt Against Advocate Over Unauthorised YouTube Uploads of Court Proceedings

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara over the unauthorised recording and uploading of court proceedings to his YouTube account, holding that the titles of the videos constitute criminal contempt, and barred him from participating in any court proceedings in the State through online or virtual mode until further orders.

A Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. took note of a report submitted by the Registry disclosing that the alleged contemnor had been unauthorisedly recording and uploading proceedings of the Court to his YouTube account despite repeated warnings in the past, and despite being fully aware that such conduct was contrary to Rule 3(9) of the Electronic Audio-Video Linkage Rules (Kerala), 2025, which prohibits broadcasting, recording, publishing or sharing of proceedings, wholly or in part, except with the written permission of the Court.

The Court noted that the videos in question, which appeared to contain recordings of its proceedings, had been published through YouTube and X without any such permission, and held that the matter assumed further significance in light of the Supreme Court's interim order dated 24th July 2026 in Harshita Grover v. Union of India & Ors. (2026 SCC OnLine SC 1393), which directed that there be no extraction, dissemination, uploading or hosting of audio-video recordings of judicial proceedings on social media or digital platforms without prior permission of the Secretary General of the Supreme Court or the Registrar Generals of the jurisdictional High Courts.

The Court held that the titles under which the two videos had been published “You be the judge. Cameras can't lie. Denial of Justice to MSMEs. Watch full video on my YouTube and X” and “Cameras cannot lie. Denial of Justice to MSMEs. You be the judge” constituted criminal contempt within the meaning of Section 2(c)(i) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

Considering that the alleged contemnor is an Advocate, the Court refrained from formally issuing a rule of contempt at this stage, but directed the Department to cause notice to be served on him within one week, making the matter returnable on 7th September 2026. 

The Court further directed that he shall not be allowed to participate in any court proceedings in Kerala through online or virtual mode until further orders, and directed that the order be circulated to the Judges of the High Court and District Courts, and communicated to the Registrar (Computerisation)-cum-Director (IT) for compliance and to the alleged contemnor.

Case Title: Suo Motu Proceedings Initiated by the High Court vs. Adv. Mathews J. Nedumpara, Cont. Cas. (Crl.) No. 8 of 2026