‘Counsel, you are on mute’: The world of virtual courts

13 min readJul 15, 2026 09:00 AM IST

First published on: Jul 15, 2026 at 07:12 AM IST

Fifteen years before courtrooms moved online, the judiciary had begun an overhaul. In 2005, the Supreme Court’s e-committee proposed a blueprint for digitising court administration. (Illustration: Suvajit Dey)

● A YouTube video of the Supreme Court’s suo motu hearing into the R G Kar rape-murder case has been viewed 3.64 lakh timessince it was uploaded in August 2024 — a number far beyond what could ever have been accommodated inside a single courtroom.

● Last year, a senior advocate logged into a virtual hearing of the Gujarat High Court, beer mug in hand, phone to his ear. The video went viral within hours, and the bench called the conduct “outrageous”.

● In 2022, then Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Aravind Kumar saw Inspector A M Rathod sipping from a cola can during a virtual hearing and directed him to distribute 100 such cans among bar association members or face disciplinary proceedings.