Advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara urges the Chief Justice of India to restore live streaming and video recording of court proceedings, warning that transparency is essential to preserve judicial credibility, accountability, and public trust in India’s justice system.
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NEW DELHI: On 24 December 2025, Advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara addressed an open letter to the Chief Justice of India. Written while waiting to join an online court hearing before the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, the letter uses a seemingly routine delay in virtual admission as a lens to expose a much deeper crisis in India’s judicial system.
The message displayed on the screen, “The Hon’ble Court has disabled public viewing of the proceedings,” triggered memories of a decade-long struggle for judicial transparency through video recording and live streaming of court proceedings.
Advocate Nedumpara recalls his campaign beginning around 2010 for video recording and preservation of court proceedings as a safeguard against:
- Abuse of judicial power
- Arbitrary decision-making
- Corruption in the justice delivery system
This sustained effort culminated in the landmark Supreme Court judgment in the case of Swapnil Tiwari, which recognized video recording and access to court proceedings as part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 of the Constitution.
Nedumpara notes that he was the lead petitioner in the batch of petitions, though his role was not acknowledged as such in the final judgment, a fact he mentions not for personal credit, but to underline the systemic reluctance to recognize reformist voices.
The open letter expresses deep anguish over the declining credibility of the Indian judiciary. Drawing on more than four decades of experience, first as a litigant from 1979, and then as a lawyer from 1984, Nedumpara states unequivocally that corruption in its many forms poses a real and present danger to the justice system.
He references widely reported incidents involving large sums of unaccounted cash allegedly linked to members of the judiciary, arguing that such allegations are no longer isolated rumours but part of a troubling pattern that undermines public confidence.
Importantly, he points out that this concern is shared not only by litigants and lawyers, but also by retired and even sitting judges, many of whom privately express anguish over the state of affairs.
A particularly striking part of the letter critiques the concentration of power in the judiciary, especially in:
- Judicial appointments
- Administrative control
- Influence over virtually every major institutional appointment
According to Nedumpara, this has resulted in Parliament being reduced to a subordinate role, upsetting the constitutional balance of power and weakening democratic accountability.
He recalls Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer’s warning that Public Interest Litigation (PIL), if unchecked, could ultimately harm the judiciary by concentrating excessive power in the hands of judges.
The letter reaffirms that live streaming of court proceedings is not a luxury but a constitutional necessity. Quoting Jeremy Bentham, Nedumpara reminds us:
“Publicity is the very soul of justice… It keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial.”
According to him, transparency through live streaming and preservation of records remains the only meaningful safeguard against judicial impropriety and erosion of trust.
He therefore expresses shock and disappointment at the curtailment of live streaming, as well as restrictions on physical and virtual access for lawyers and litigants.
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on the Video Recording