Silence! The Court is in Session Characters

Leela Benare

Benare is an unconventional schoolteacher who is not shy about expressing her opinions and lives life just a little off the beaten path. Unfortunately, others see things differently and cast the relatively innocuous independence of the early-30s single woman in a much harsher and more judgmental light. Thanks to the random timing—perhaps—of not being in the right room at the right time, she is chosen to play a woman on trial for infanticide in a mock trial that takes a dark turn toward the serious. While she mocks the whole thing at first, we see her grow tenser, more frightened, and more burdened as the trial goes on. She tries to escape it numerous times but can never manage to do so, and she sits to hear judgment passed upon how she chooses to live her life.

Sukhatme

A major player among the Sonar Moti Tenement (Bombay) Progressive Association, he is usually cast as a lawyer in the association’s mock trials because he is a lawyer in real life, albeit one who apparently isn't very talented. Here, he is the attorney in charge of prosecuting the mock case against Benare. He unflaggingly and happily persecutes her the entire time, showing no mercy but disingenuously protesting that the whole thing is a game.

Samant

Samant is a local villager who helps get the actors set up with the hall. He is a simple man, one who is mostly kind throughout the play. However, when asked to pretend to be a witness to Benare's "immoral" behavior, he finds it easy enough to fabricate a story about her being pregnant with Damle's child and claiming she will kill herself. While Samant is not as deliberately cruel and manipulative as the others, it says something about him (and people in general) that he finds it easy to be swept up in the malicious game.

Balu Rodke

Rodke is a young man who was raised and supported by the Kashikars as a sort of son. He is clearly rather servile to them, though we learn later that Kashikar might harbor suspicions about him and his wife. Rodke is a nervous man, but once urged to take the stand to testify—first as to seeing Damle and Benare alone together, and second as to Benare's attempted seduction of him—he grows in confidence and relates his observations and experiences in an excitable and callous fashion. There also seem to be fabrications in his stories.

Mr. Kashikar

Kashikar is another power player alongside Sukhatme in the Association. In his real job, he is a social worker and seems very proud of himself; in the mock trial, he sits in judgment as the presiding justice overseeing the case. Towards the end, he makes an unprecedented break with all legal convention by taking the stand as a witness speaking harshly against the defendant. Throughout the trial, he tries to be as stern and commanding as possible, and he clearly enjoys his position of power. He utters numerous cruel, disparaging comments about Benare as an individual and about unmarried women in general.

Mrs. Kashikar

The wife of Kashikar, she is insecure about not having children and masks it with judgment and cruelty. She is gleeful throughout Benare's trial and physically and emotionally manipulates Benare to keep participating even though she desperately does not want to. The happiness of her marriage with Kashikar is rather suspect, as he is often openly impatient and derisive of her.

Ponkshe

A science student and member of the acting group. Ponkshe is initially not as interested in the fake trial but comes to relish his role within it, delivering pertinent information about Benare that helps bring about her "conviction."

Professor Damle

A member of the acting troupe and Benare's lover, he does not appear on stage during the show. He is married with five children, has an important university job, and is considered an upstanding member of the community. No one feels compelled to judge him for getting Benare pregnant.