Indian Chamber of law

Constituent Assembly Debates.

New Books on Law and Justice.

No Comments please.

Times of India, 9.9.2019

https://www.forwardpress.in/2019/06/no-place-for-women-in-indian-judiciary/

No place for women in temples of justice Arvind Jain on how women were once barred from practising law in India and how the law was later changed to allow them entry into the temples of justice. He also adds that no woman, to date, has be…

https://www.forwardpress.in/2019/05/sexual-freedom-law-and-morality/

Sexual freedom, law and morality The Indian laws conform to the social system prevalent in the country – a social system that is patently patriarchal and gives sexual freedom only to men. The women are expected to adhere to the no…

The Supreme Court has said that daughters have the same rights as sons to the property of their parents, inherited or self-made. But this is easier said than done. In three cases that went up to the Supreme Court, the court gave contradictory judgments. Hence, the issue continues to hang fire, writes Arvind Jain

Daughters yet to get equal rights to parental property The Supreme Court has said that daughters have the same rights as sons to the property of their parents, inherited or self-made. But this is easier said than done. In three cases that went up to th…

https://www.forwardpress.in/2019/03/the-punishment-for-being-a-woman-you-will-be-what-man-wants-you-to-be/

The punishment for being a woman: You will be what man wants you to be In Indian society, apart from the social structure, the law also favours men. Men have ownership over women courtesy of the social and legal privileges he enjoys. Here, Arvind Jain analyses the soc…

Define !!

The term "Hindu" has not been defined either under the Act or Indian Succession Act or any other enactment of the Legislature. As far back as in 1903 the Privy Council in Bhagwan Koer v. J.C. Bose & Ors. [ILR ( # # ) Calcutta Series 11] observed: "We shall not attempt here to lay down a general definition of what is meant by the term 'Hindu'. to make it accurate and at the same time sufficiently comprehensive as well as distinctive is extremely difficult. The Hindu religion is marvellously catholic and elastic. Its theology is marked by eclecticism and tolerance and almost unlimited freedom of private worship. Its social code is much more stringent, but amongst its different castes and sections exhibits wide diversity of practice. No trait is more marked of Hindu society in general than its horror of using the meat of the cow. Yet the Chamaras who profess Hinduism, but who eat beef and the flesh of dead animals, are however low in the scale included within its pale. It is easier to say who are not Hindus, not practically and separation of Hindus from non-Hindus is not a matter of so much difficulty. The people know the differences well and can easily tell who are Hindus and who are not."

Gender injustice in the judiciary

While mystery still hangs over how a woman judge was ruled out of the race for the chief justiceship, statistics point to the unwritten code that Indian courts belong to men.

BY ARVIND JAIN ON MAY 8, 2015

The Indian republic has completed 65 years of existence. In these “glorious” 65 years of national history, though, no woman has been able to – or allowed to – occupy the position of the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Given the present situation, no woman can hope to become the CJI at least till August 2022.

It was 40 years after the promulgation of the Indian Constitution that, on 6 October 1989, Fatima Bibi became the first woman judge of the Supreme Court. She retired in 1992. Thereafter, Sujata V. Manohar (1984), Ruma Pal (2000), Gyan Sudha Mishra (2010), Ranjana Prakash Desai (2011) and R. Banumathi (2014) were appointed judges of the apex court. In the past 65 years, of the 219 Supreme Court judges (41 retired CJIs, 150 retired judges and 28 serving judges), only 6 (2.7 per cent) have been women.

RUMA PAL NOT ALLOWED TO BECOME CJI

In the year 2000, the golden jubilee of the Supreme Court was celebrated. On 29 January that year, the CJI A.S. Anand was to administer the oath to three new judges – Doraiswamy Raju, Ruma Pal and Y.K. Sabharwal. For inexplicable reasons – some say owing to the golden jubilee celebrations – the swearing-in day was advanced to 28 January.

Doraiswamy Raju and Y.K. Sabharwal were sworn in in the morning while Ruma Pal could take the oath only in the evening. That was because she was informed late about the change in the swearing-in date. Raju and Sabharwal had, however, received the information in time.

On that day itself, it was decided that but for some act of god, Doraiswamy Raju (born 2 July, 1939) would retire in January 2004, and after the retirement of R.C. Lahoti as the CJI on 1 November 2005, Y.K. Sabharwal (born 14 January 1942) would become the CJI and would continue to hold the post till 13 January 2007. It was also decided that Ruma Pal (born 3 June 1941) would retire as Supreme Court judge on 2 June 2006.

The delay in informing Ruma Pal about the preponed swearing-in date altered the direction of India’s judicial history. The delay was only a couple of hours, but it could make the daughters of India wait for a couple of decades before one of them becomes the CJI. Whether feminist historians would describe this turn of events only as “coincidence” and “fate” or a “patriarchal conspiracy” is difficult to say.

WOMEN HAVE TO PROVE THEIR ‘ABILITY’

One shouldn’t be surprised by state of affairs in the Supreme Court when most of the high courts are still awaiting their first woman judge. Anna Chandy became the first woman High Court judge when, on 9 February 1959, she was appointed to the bench of the Kerala High Court. Then there was a long gap before P. Janaki Amma (30 May 1974) and K.K. Usha (1991) became judges – both in the Kerala High Court. Leila Seth was the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court (25 July 1978) and went on to become the first woman chief justice of a high court (Himachal Pradesh in 1991). T. Meena Kumari (Meghalaya, 2013), G. Rohini (Delhi, 2014) and Dr Manjula Chellur (Calcutta, 2014) became the first women chief justices of the respective high courts. Women form just 7 per cent of the total number of judges who have so far been appointed to the 24 high courts of the country. It is often said that one reason for the lesser number of women judges in high courts is that men far outnumber women in the legal profession. Whenever there is a talk of reservation for women in the higher judiciary, even the most liberal legal luminaries start brandishing the “merit-should-be-supreme” argument.

WOMEN ON THE MARGINS

Equally surprising is the fact that in all these 65 years, the posts of the union law minister (from Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar to Sadananda Gowda), chairmen of National Law Commission and National Human Rights Commission, the attorney general and solicitor general have been the preserve of men. Sometime ago, Indira Jaising was appointed additional solicitor general amid the clamour for women’s empowerment. But men continued to the rule the roost in positions where decisions are made.

Not only in the bench, but women are on the margins of the bar, too. Women lawyers have been largely ignored in bar associations – the professional bodies of lawyers. All the presidents of the Bar Council of India (From M.C. Setalwad to Manan Kumar Mishra) have been men. In Delhi, the presidents and secretaries of the Delhi High Court Bar Association, Delhi Bar Association (Tees Hazari Court), New Delhi Bar Association (Patiala House), Rohini Bar Association, Shahdara Bar Association, Saket Bar Association and Dwarka Bar Association are all men. The exceptions – which prove the rule – so far have been the elections of Parina Swaroop and Aishwarya Bhati as secretaries of Supreme Court Bar Association and Santosh Mishra as president of New Delhi Bar Association (Patiala House). When this is the state of affairs in the country’s capital, imagine the situation in the other states.

AFTER THE FIRST WOMAN LAWYER

Here, it would be pertinent to mention that in the case of Ragina Guha, the Calcutta High Court (1916), and in case of Sudhanshu Bala, the Patna High Court (1922), had ruled that “despite holding degrees in law, women were not entitled to become lawyers”. These two historical documents are worth reading. On 24 August 1921, the Allahabad High Court, for the first time, allowed a lady, Cornelia Sorabjee, to plead. This was followed by the promulgation of the Legal Practitioners (Women) Act, 1923, which lifted the ban on women becoming lawyers. Thus, women have not even completed hundred years in the legal profession – that will be celebrated in 2021. Can we hope that by then that there will be no discrimination based on gender in the bar and the bench? Until women are treated with respect in the judiciary, the dream of gender justice will remain unfulfilled. It remains to seen what impact the dismantling of the collegium system has on this state of affairs.(Published in the April 2015 issue of the FORWARD Press magazine)

See following Links:-
https://www.forwardpress.in/2015/05/gender-injustice-in-the-judiciary/

https://www.forwardpress.in/2015/05/gender-injustice-in-the-judiciary-hindi/

http://www.vniindia.com/news-hindi-India-has-to-wait-till-2024-to-get-its-first-woman-Chief-justice-of-India

http://hindi.webdunia.com/national-hindi-news/national-news-supreme-court-indian-woman-judge-116061500086_1.html

http://janchowk.com/Beech-Bahas/supreme-court-women-chief-justice-judge-india/2545

http://epaper.voiceoflucknow.com/epaper/edition/758/lucknow-city/page/10

http://dainiksaveratimes.epapr.in/1996982/Delhi-Main/Delhi-Main /10/1

Gender injustice in the judiciary While mystery still hangs over how a woman judge was ruled out of the race for the chief justiceship, statistics point to the unwritten code that Indian courts belong to men

Legal literacy workshop for Women organized by Centre for Women’s Studies on 21 August, 2015
A Legal literacy workshop for girls and women and law was organized by the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Allahabad in the Hall of Residence, New women’s Hostel. Hon’ble Justice Vijay Lakshmi was the chief guest, and the main speaker of the workshop was Mr. Arvind Jain, Lawyer, Supreme Court. Around 200 women from within the Allahabad University and from its constituent Colleges participated in the workshop.
Dr. Ruchika Varma welcomed the guests. Prof. Sumita Parmar, Director, Centre for Women’s Studies inaugurated the workshop and emphasized that girls ought to be legally literate so as to be aware of their rights. Justice Vijay Lakshmi emphasized that women and girls should be legally aware so that they are not exploited, and men should know what activities would be considered criminal offences. She emphasized that though both men and women are equal irrespective of gender according to the law, but there are laws which favour women. She emphasized the fact that “ignorance of law is no excuse”, and so women should be legally literate.
The workshop was divided into three technical sessions which were addressed by Mr. Arvind Jain, Supreme Court Lawyer. The three sessions were focused on the issues of sexual harassment law, matrimonial laws and property laws and rights of women. He emphasized on the loopholes in the various laws relevant in the context of women. Effectiveness of the laws relating to marriage, divorce, adoption and property is impacted by the hidden patriarchal forces. Quoting the relevance of 2013 Nirbhaya case, Mr. Arvind Jain pointed out that, unless women raise their voices against the disparities in laws, it is not possible to change the legal system. For example, issues like marital r**e, property rights of step mother and child, dilution of anti-dowry law in the name of misuse, age of consent in the case of unmarried girls, decent maintenance for divorced women and their share in property of husband etc have still not been settled by the law. He emphasized that without right to property women cannot have a right in political power.
Taking the historical context, Arvind Jain said that the first women Advocate of India in 1923, Cornellia Sorabaji could not practice as an advocate for a long time. Even today, the women representation in Judiciary is very low and there are only two percent women Judges in India. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks to the participants and the CWS team (Dr.Ruchika Varma, Ms. Richa Singh, Mr. Balkrishn, Mr. Farhaan Akhtar and Mr. Sudhir Gupta) by the Director, Prof. sumita Parmar.

'A letter to my sister'- Arvind Jain

Supreme Court approves of adultery: Where should the women go? All the laws dealing with adultery are already biased in favour of men. The Supreme Court’s judgment, striking down section 497 of the IPC, will only give men an unrestrained freedom to engag…