New Delhi: Repeated disruptions were witnessed during a video conference hearing before the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court on Wednesday after a participant played obscene video content along with disturbing audio during the proceedings, a Bar and Bench report said. The hearing was halted abruptly following the chaos caused by the obscene video.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia was carrying out the hearing when the proceedings were thrown into a disarray for the first time around 12:56 pm.
Proceedings shut down multiple times
Court staff immediately closed down the virtual hearing. However, minutes after the session was resumed, the user logged in under the name “Sh**jit Singh” played inappropriate content again, forcing the proceedings to be shut down once more. The disruption happened thrice.
According to some reports, an unidentified participant appeared to have gained access to the virtual platform and started playing objectionable video content, taking everyone present unawares. Besides the visuals, an automated voice message was also heard, claiming that the system had been “hacked”.
An unidentified participant appeared to have gained access to the virtual platform and started playing objectionable video content. (Lighthouse Films/DigitalVision/Getty Images)
Incident sparks serious concerns
The incident has triggered serious concerns about the security and reliability of virtual court proceedings. It is yet to be established on how the disruption happened: was it a technical vulnerability, hacking, or internal misuse? The episode calls for safeguarding sensitive judicial platforms from such breaches in the future.
Wednesdays are Public Interest Litigation (PIL) days in the Chief Justice’s court.
The High Court administration has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police’s Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit, which has started a preliminary inquiry to assess the nature and extent of the incident, reports said.