Who we are
Ms. Indira Jaising Starting practice as a lawyer in the early sixties, Indira Jaising became the first woman to be designated as a Senior Advocate by High Court of Bombay in 1986. Right from the beginning of her legal career, she has focused on protection of human rights, rights of women and those of the poor working class.
She has argued several cases relating to discrimination against women, including the Mary Roy's case, which led to the grant of equal inheritance rights for Syrian Christian women in Kerala and Rupan Deol Bajaj, the IAS officer who had prosecuted KPS Gill for outraging her modesty. This was one of the first cases of sexual harassment, successfully prosecuted.
Indira has recently argued the case of Geeta Hariharan in which the Supreme Court in a Bench presided over by Chief Justice A.S.Anand has held that under Hindu law, the mother is also the guardian of her minor children along with the father. This case heralds a major breakthrough for all women, for it restores them to a position of equality within marriage. It will empower women to enter into legal transactions in relation to the person and the property of their children Thus for example, women will be entitled to make applications for passports in the name of their children, make admissions to schools and make investments of the property of the minor in their capacity as guardians of their children. She also successfully challenged the discriminatory provisions of the Indian Divorce Act in the High Court of Kerala, thus enabling Christian women to get a divorce on the ground of cruelty or desertion, a right, which was denied to them.
She represented the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy in the Supreme Court of India in their claim for compensation against the American Multi-national Union Carbide Corporation. She also challenged the constitutional validity of the Act on the ground that it excluded the rights of victims to control their own litigation. She argued cases of homeless pavement dwellers of Mumbai who were facing eviction. A landmark judgement delivered by the Supreme Court of India in 1986 upheld the right to life of these hapless people and protected them from arbitrary eviction. She has also participated in campaigns for the right to housing of the homeless.
A keen environmentalist, Ms Jaising has argued major environmental cases in the Supreme Court. She took polluting resorts and hotels to court and was successful in preventing the wanton destruction of the sensitive Goan coastline. Some of the other important cases relating to the environment that she has argued have been the petition to ban the import of toxic waste into the country.
She has been associated with several Peoples Commissions on Violence in Punjab to investigate the extra judicial killings, disappearances and mass cremations that took place during the period 1979 to 1990.
In addition to all this, Indira Jaising is the founder secretary of The Lawyers Collective, an organisation of Lawyers and law students, involved in servicing the unfulfilled needs of the victims of undeserved want. As the Founder-Editor of The Lawyers, a monthly journal, published by Law Cooperative ,she has attempted to spread awareness of legal rights among women, children and the working classes. She is currently the Director of the Lawyers Collective Women's Rights Initiative, which focuses on the elimination of violence against women.
The magazine has attempted to demystify the law and break the culture of silence that surrounds the justice dispensing system today. Several investigative reports on individual judges, with a view to making them accountable to the people, have been carried in The Lawyers from time to time.
It was indeed a bold move on the part of Ms. Jaising, a practicing lawyer, to expose the corrupt practices of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, which led to a movement for his impeachment even though the motion in Parliament could reach its logical conclusion. She has played a prominent role in encouraging members of the legal profession as well as the public to be fearless in their criticism of the judges and thereby helped in democratising the functioning of the judiciary. She has also advocated the formulation of a code of conduct for judges which would include, inter alia, full declaration of assets of sitting judges, bar on practice by their near relatives and a ban on their accepting office after retirement.
Ms Jaising has attended several national and international conferences on women and represented her country at these conferences. She had a fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies London and has been a visiting Scholar at the Columbia University New York.
She was conferred with the Rotary Manav Seva Award in recognition of her services to the nation in fighting corruption and as a champion of the weaker sections of the society. She was given the Padma Shree by the President of India in 2005 for the service to the cause of public affairs.