How virtual hearings opened Indian courts to public
Virtual courts in India have provided moments of unintended hilarity - from a lawyer appearing shirtless for a hearing to another smoking hookah during proceedings.
Shishira Rudrappa, co-founder of Bar&Bench said he started the legal news portal knowing "that one day court news would take up most of the front pages of our newspapers."
In the past decade, legal news websites like LiveLaw and Bar&Bench - alongside the growth of social media and the proliferation of smartphones in India - have transformed legal reporting from courtrooms.
While once these reports were limited to a court's verdict or a judge's observation, exchanges in courts now frequently make news.
"It has increased awareness about the coverage of the courts - people have a better idea about what is happening there," said Manu Sebastian, managing editor of LiveLaw.
Such real-time updates constitute a "virtual extension of the open court," a Supreme Court bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud observed last year.
