Like with every other sector, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the working of the courts in the year 2020. The impact was more pronounced in lower courts, where facilities to conduct virtual hearings were also not adequate. Data from the NCRB’s CII report for 2020 indicates that courts disposed 16.4 lakh cases in 2020 (both IPC & SLL crimes) compared to 28 lakh cases disposed in 2019. COVID-19 severely hampered the functioning of judicial systems around the globe. In India, several steps were taken to ensure the safety of the lawyers, litigants and the general visiting public including fewer physical hearings, adjustment of operations, and closure of courts. But these measures meant that the normal functioning of the courts was affected and hence reducing the number of cases disposed in 2020. India’s criminal justice system is known for its acute backlog and pendency crisis. Despite an increasing trend in the disposal of cases in most years, the pendency of cases has increased due to the number of new cases outpacing the number of disposed cases. The data on pending investigations and trials published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed an increasing trend in the backlog or the pendency rate with India’s courts and police. In addition to NCRB, the National Judicial Data Grid also highlights the pendency of cases in high courts, district and taluka courts of the country. Reportedly, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the disposal rates of several courts around the country dipped further. In this story we focus on the impact of the pandemic on trends in court disposal of cases in India in the year 2020, taking a cue from Crime in India Reports released by NCRB over the years, the latest one being released recently for the year 2020. Courts reduced operations and adopted virtual mode amidst COVID-19 The journey of e-Governance initiatives in court administration started mainly in the mid-1990s and was further enhanced after the e-Courts Project was launched as a part of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in 2006. However, the sudden and unexpected advent of the COVID-19 crisis provided a great fillip in bringing about a rapid transformation in the manner of court administration in the country. On 13 March 2020, the Supreme Court issued a notification declaring that the Court will function at a reduced capacity and suspended physical hearings since the latter half of March 2020 in view of the advisories issued by the Government of India and the World Health Organization (WHO) against mass public gatherings. The Court pruned its operations at two levels. First, the Court was now only taking up ‘urgent matters’. Second, entry to the courtroom is restricted to a select group of people. Soon thereafter, on 14 March 2020, the apex court issued a slew of measures meant to limit crowding of the Courts. For instance, lawyers and litigants can request the Registry to not list their matters till such time the pandemic-related restrictions are eased. At the same time, the Supreme Court encouraged the electronic filing of documents and participation in proceedings via videoconferencing. Nevertheless, no official notification has been issued in this regard to date. On 22 March 2020, the Court decided to reduce its functioning even further. On the same day, the Court also instituted a bench to hear urgent matters. These decisions come amid the deployment of more stringent measures by the executive to tackle COVID-19. On 06 April 2020, the Supreme Court granted legal sanctity to video conference under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution. High Courts were also given the authority to work out detailed modalities suitable for adopting video conferencing technologies. Since mid-March 2020, the Indian courts were reportedly operating at a reduced capacity, to prevent the spread of the virus. It was only on 30 August 2020, that the Supreme Court decided to open up its premises for limited physical hearings, on an experimental basis. In a brief two-page notification the Court required counsels and clerks seeking physical hearings to obtain a special hearing pass and follow COVID-19 specific sanitary and health guidelines. On 06 March 2021, the Supreme Court announced that it would begin hybrid physical hearings. The current functioning of Courts has returned to resume physical hearings for some cases, while also maintaining hybrid and virtual forms of judicial administration. All these measures at the Supreme Court concerned High Courts and the lower courts meant that their functioning was severely affected. The worst affected of all were the lower courts where adequate facilities for video conferencing are not on par.