Please pause your argument, says a helpful pop-up

Placards, that are used to convey highly effective messages throughout protests, cheer sportspersons or give cues to actors, are making their presence felt in a new area — the Supreme Court of India.

Here, they act as silent referees, guiding legal professionals, a few of whom aren’t so tech-savvy, by way of typically patchily related digital court docket hearings. With the digital court docket system gaining greater than a foothold within the judicial system these days, placards are proving to be of invaluable assist.

Often legal professionals presenting their arguments are seen however not heard by the judges throughout digital hearings. At instances, they’re heard however not seen. There are additionally instances when judges cease listening to the lawyer and talk to one another in the course of a listening to, however the lawyer unknowingly continues along with his submissions. On these events, the white-sleeved hand of an nameless court docket staffer pops up on the backside of the display screen, holding a placard with a appropriate message to the digicam within the courtroom.

Over time, the repertoire of placards has elevated to anticipate each technical hassle that might crop up throughout a court docket listening to. From the straightforward “please unmute” within the first months of digital court docket hearings final yr, there at the moment are a variety of placards to show to the legal professionals on digicam, together with “you are visible but not audible” and “you are audible but not visible”.

The newest placard learn: “please pause your argument”. This comes up when judges abruptly go into a huddle whereas a lawyer is arguing.

It’s not that legal professionals don’t have a placard or two up their sleeve. Recently, a lawyer held up a placard that mentioned: “Please unmute me”.