‘Silence! The court is in session’ is a play by Vijay Tendulkar where he has depicted the plight of a young woman, Ms Leela Benare, who is betrayed by the male dominated society. The play is a social satire on middle-class society, particularly its treatment towards women. In it we find a group of teachers who stage a mock trial and charge infanticide against Miss Benare, one of the cast members. All the characters try to impose their personal comments and accuse Benare of wrong-doing and immoral acts. The game of mock trial, which started for entertainment, turns into Benare's tragedy.
Benare is seen in a cheerful mood of flamboyance, but she gets her first blow, when Ponkshe, a scientist, says, "She runs after men too much." He further "reveals' her past life by saying that she first proposed to Ponkshe and then tried to deceive Rokde, a young boy.Judge Kashikar orders the school authorities to expel Miss Benare for being immoral and pregnant while still being unmarried. Benare's views are rejected by all, and it seems like a pre-planned conspiracy. She is also stricken with a sense of fear like a trapped animal, and has been crippled morally and socially.
The play confronts several problems of the Indian society-such as the degradation of the judiciary system, pretentious institutional social service organizations, and forceful male supremacy, in a masterful way. However, the fact is that we look at the world and our friends, relatives and other associates, and value their roles only from their utility towards our ends. Conventional morality is only an imaginary issue.