New Delhi: The anecdote goes something like this—Senior Counsel ‘X’ (while addressing the Bench): “If your lordships will now be kind enough to turn to page 6 of the paper book and come to the star on the left column.”
Senior Judge on the Bench (known for having a proclivity for correct usage of English language): “Mr. X the only stars I see are the stars visible in the sky post 7 pm. What you are referring to is an ‘Asterisk’.”
This courtroom exchange is just one of the submissions on the Delhi High Court website’s new ‘Humour in Court’ section, which was launched to capture witty stories and anecdotes from the courtroom.
The first submission was made by Justice Rajiv Shakdher, who also heads the court’s IT, artificial intelligence, and accessibility committee. This panel was responsible for setting up the section, which seeks to capture and preserve humorous stories and anecdotes from the courtroom. The portal went live Wednesday.
“Why did we decide to have a dedicated space for recording court anecdotes?” Justice Shakdher said during his address as the guest of honour at the launch event at the Delhi HC Tuesday. “It’s because often the history of the times can be recorded through these anecdotes. The judges who sat and the lawyers who argued these matters, are also detailed in them.”
Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) president and senior advocate Mohit Mathur said the idea behind the portal was to share lighter moments from courtroom proceedings for the public to “enjoy”.
“It aims to ensure that the profession and court work aren’t drab,” Mathur said, adding that the anecdotes also offer an insight into how times have changed.
How will it function
The functioning of the site is simple: any litigant or advocate can send their contributions to a designated email (delhihighcourt@nic.in) with the subject, ‘Humour in Court.’ The posts that pass the screening by the designated HC committee will be posted online.
Justice Shakdher clarified that the anecdotes will not be edited. The screening committee is just meant to ensure that there is a system of checks.
“Justices Rekha Palli, Amit Bansal and Prateek Jalan will be part of this committee,” he said, while joking that an appropriate name for the committee would be “funny bone”.
“Justice Jalan also says that when he cracks a joke in court, no one understands. Now is his chance to tell them,” he shared.
Justice Shakdher also shared some ground rules to be kept in mind when sending contributions to the portal. “Name the persons involved in the anecdote. Don’t cross boundaries of decency and make sure the anecdote isn’t offensive.”
Highlighting that judges and lawyers often might need to make such remarks and lighten up the court’s mood, especially when tempers run high, Justice Shakdher said, “We need to learn how to laugh at ourselves—a skill that most of us have forgotten nowadays.”
Is there any space for humour in court?
Advocate on Record Vikram Hegde, who has been a dispute resolution lawyer for over a decade now, believes that the initiative will show people the human side of the court—that they are not “an imperious institution devoid of empathy”.
“Court proceedings involve serious and hotly contested issues. There is always some tension in the air and temperatures often run high. However, humour and levity have always had a place in the culture of advocacy,” Hegde told ThePrint.
The court acknowledging such humour also carries meaning, he added. “The portal on the high court website is an official acknowledgement of this aspect of legal culture.”
Lawyer and stand-up comedian Manu Abhishek Bhardwaj, who practices at the Supreme Court, told ThePrint, “Oftentimes what lawyers find funny may appear alien or unfunny to the outside world. Some may even find it insensitive or technical given the language used by us. Still, I believe humour is very important as it provides a deeper look into the psyche of people. It’s also a medium of raising crucial issues in society.”
But Bhardwaj, who holds a Master’s degree in sports and entertainment law, cautioned against the screening committee, saying that it could “possibly steer clear of contemporary concerns that affect the legal fraternity like nepotism and the collegium system while accepting contributions”.
First of its kind?
This isn’t the legal world’s first tryst with humour. For instance, Bhardwaj mentioned advocate Raju Z. Moray’s book ‘Tales of Law and Laughter’, which gives readers a humourous view of a lawyer’s life, from law college to the bar, and was published in April.
Justice Shakdher, during his address Tuesday, cited a book authored by advocate Ejaz Maqbool called ‘Law, Humour and Urdu Poetry‘, which also has a section on somewhat strange or absurd cases that have propped up before the courts over time.
The book’s launch in December last year, was attended by Supreme Court judge Justice K.V. Viswanathan, senior advocates Salman Khurshid and Huzefa Ahmadi, and Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta.
Bhardwaj recalled his stand-up comedy session at the Ambedkar Memorial Lecture on the topic, Article 32: History and the Future, in April before an audience comprising sitting Supreme Court judges, Justices Abhay S. Oka and B.R. Gavai.
“Several high court judges, senior advocates, and lawyers were present. It (the event) opened a lot of doors for me, and people like me to bring humour into the courtroom,” Bhardwaj said.
Hedge, however, added that although he didn’t know of any other court with a similar section on its website, “a coffee table book published on the occasion of the Madras High Court completing one of its anniversaries featured some legendary jokes of that court.”
The Allahabad High Court legal archives, published to celebrate the centenary, 1866–1966, contain a document authored by Justice Gyanendra Kumar titled ‘Law and Laughter.’
One of the initial pages reads, “The image of a High Court judge in the mind of a common man is one of solemn grimness. But it is only a half-truth. The judge is as much a human being as anybody else, possessing an innate sense of humour, giving rise to repartees between the Bench and the Bar.”
“In the early British days, some Indians aped Englishmen and, sometimes, in their conversation became more English than the English themselves. British officials naturally did not like it. Mr. Rudra (popularly known as Mr. Rudder), a Barrister, had adopted the anglicised manner of speech. He was once appearing before an English Judicial Commissioner and addressed him as ‘saar’ instead of ‘sir’. The judge resented the tone and said, ‘Why do you address me as ‘saar’? Thereupon Rudra retorted, ‘What else? Am I to address you as Lord, God, Almighty?’,” reads one of the anecdotes shared by Justice Kumar in the document.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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