Indira Jaising
| Indira Jaising | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1940 (age 77–78) Mumbai, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Indira Jaising (born 3 June 1940) is an advocate of the Supreme Court of India. Her husband Anand Grover is a noted human rights lawyer and designated senior advocate of the Supreme Court. She also runs an NGO with the name of Lawyers' Collective, license of which was permanently cancelled by the Home Ministry for violations of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Central government accused the NGO of using foreign funds in a manner not mentioned in the objectives of the NGO. However, the Bombay HC has ordered to defreeze the domestic accounts of her NGO. She is an Indian lawyer noted for her legal activism in promoting human right causes. In 2018 she was ranked 20th in the list of 50 Greatest Leaders of the World by Fortune magazine.
Jaising was born in Mumbai to a Sindhi Hindu family. She did her school education in Mumbai. Then completed her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bangalore University. In 1962, completed LLM a post graduate degree in law from University of Bombay.
In 1981, along with her husband Anand Grover, she founded the Lawyers Collective, a NGO devoted to feminist and left-wing causes. In 1986, she became the first woman to be designated a Senior Advocate by the High Court of Bombay. Herfeminism and strong personality, endeared her to Sonia Gandhi and in 2009, Jaising became the first woman to be appointed Additional Solicitor General of India. From the beginning of her legal career, she has focused on protection of human rights and rights of women.
Jaising argued several cases relating to discrimination against women, including 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. Jaising also argued the case of Githa Hariharan in which the Supreme Court in a Bench presided over by Chief Justice A.S. Anand held that under Hindu law, the mother was also the "natural guardian" of her minor children, so that the children could also bear the name of the mother. Jaising 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 has represented Teesta Setalvad, in a case where she was targeted and accused of embezzling money.
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