Pdf Silence! the Court Is in Session - Vijay Tendulkar

Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)
A Peer Reviewed International Journal - http://www.rjelal.com
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Vol.1.Issue.1.;2013

ISSN 2321 –3108

VIJAY TENDULKAR’S ‘SILENCE! THE COURT IS IN SESSION’: A MOCKERY AGAINST EXISTING JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Dr. MEDIKONDA SAMBAIAH
Assistant Professor in English, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, JNTUACEP,YSR Kadapa (Dist), Andhra Pradesh, India

Mrs. KATUMALA SANDHYA
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, JNTUACEP,YSR Kadapa (Dist),Andhra Pradesh, India ABSTRACT A criticism against Indian Judicial system that ‘the failure of modern legal theory and practice lies in its understanding of what it is to be a human being’ can be undoubtedly attributed to the themes of Vijay Tendulkar’s play Silence! The Court Is In Session. The play barbs against existing judicial system at two levels. Firstly, it can be studied as a ‘legal plea’ which demands for emancipation, equality and liberation of women and stresses the need for a social transformation of law, culture, and social patterns which release women’s potential, where the legal curriculum has neglected issues of central concern of women like: rape, domestic violence, reproduction, unequal pay, sex determination and sexual harassment, from Benare’s ‘case study’: Secondly, the play can be a thesis on elite-court relations in India as an unsatisfactory arrangement, where being structurally part of the state, the courts are expected to maintain a high degree of independence and to be ensured of a democratic policy. The play is highly relevant as it discusses the present atrocities occurring on women throughout India including Delhi ‘Nirbhaya’ gang rape case and demands for verdict and bits the elite society to ponder on the issue seriously. Key words: Judicial system, Unequal treatment, Legal plea, elite-court relations, Play within the play

Dr. MEDIKONDA SAMBAIAH

Mrs. KATUMALA SANDHYA

Article Received on : 26/03/2013

References: 1. Vijay Tendulkar. “Drama: The Most Difficult, But the Most Powerful Medium.” Interviews with Indian Writers, New World Literature Series, B-18, p.280 2. Vijay Tendulkar. Collected Plays in Translation: Silence! The Court is in Session, translated by Priya Adarkar, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2003, p.55. 3. Quoted in “System on the Verge of Collapse”, India Abroad , New York, February 4, 1994. 4. Deborah Rhode. “Justice, Gender and the Justice” in Crites Lawra L, and Hepperle Winifred L (eds), ‘Women, The Courts and Equality’. 1978, p.10. 5. Roma Mukherjee. Women, Law and Free Legal Aid in India, Deep & Deep Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1998, p.64. 6. Sect. (2), Adoptions and The Hindu Maintenance Act, 1956. 7. Ved Kumari. “Place of Women and Child in Guardianship” in Lotika Sarkar and B. Sivaramayya (eds), ‘Women and Law: Contemporary Problems’ Vikas PublishingHouse Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 1994, p.242. 8. Sudhir Sonalkar. “Vijay Tendulkar and the Metaphor of Violence”, The Illustrated Weekly of India, November 18-24, 1993, p.20. 9. Veena Noble Dass. “Women Characters in the Plays of Tendulkar”, New Directions in Indian Drama (ed) Sudhakar Pandey and Freya Barva, Prestige publications, New Delhi, 1994, p.11. 10. Vijay Tendulkar. “Interview”, The Indian Literary Review, Vol.I, p.12. 105 VIJAY TENDULKAR’S ‘SILENCE! THE COURT IS IN SESSION’...| Medikonda Sambaiah et al