>InternetArchiveBot at 14:25, 27 December 2021

2021-12-27T14:25:10Z

New page

{{short description|Indian lawyer}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{peacock|date=January 2020}}
{{BLP sources|date=November 2014}}
}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Indira Jaising
| image = 
| alt =
| caption = Indira Jaising
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1940}}
| birth_place = [[Mumbai]], [[India]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = [[India]]n
| other_names =
| occupation = [[Lawyer]]
| years_active =
| known_for = human rights and gender equality activism
| notable_works =
}}

'''Indira Jaising''' (born 3 June 1940)<ref name="oh">{{cite web | url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/memberscv/Jaising.pdf | title=Indira Jaising (India) | publisher=United Nations Human Rights - Office of the High Commissioner | access-date=15 June 2018 }}</ref> is an [[Indian people|Indian]] lawyer who is 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.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.livelaw.in/first-indian-lawyer-makes-fortunes-worlds-greatest-leaders-list-indira-jaising-ranked-20-list-day-faced-setback-sc/ | title=In a First an Indian Lawyer Makes It to Fortune's World's Greatest Leaders List: Indira Jaising Ranked 20 in the List on a Day She Faced Setback from SC| date=2018-04-19}}</ref> She also runs an NGO with the name of ''Lawyers' Collective'', the license of which was permanently cancelled<ref>{{cite news |title=MHA cancels FCRA licences of 1,300 NGOs |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/mha-cancels-fcra-licences-of-1300-ngos/articleshow/71964523.cms?from=mdr |access-date=January 19, 2021 |work=Rahul Tripathi, ET Bureau |agency=Economic Times |publisher=Economic Times |date=November 8, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Home-Ministry-cancels-licence-of-Indira-Jaising%E2%80%99s-NGO/article16773098.ece|title=Home Ministry cancels licence of Indira Jaising's NGO|journal=The Hindu|last=PTI|date=2016-12-07}}</ref> by the Home Ministry for violations of [[Foreign Contribution Regulation Act]]. The central government of India accused the NGO of using foreign funds in a manner not mentioned in the objectives of the NGO. However, the Bombay High Court has passed the order to de-freeze the domestic accounts of her NGO. However, this is a small relief as the case still continues in the Supreme Court of India.
<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/Defreeze-accounts-of-Indira-Jaisingh%E2%80%99s-NGO-HC/article17118258.ece|title=Defreeze accounts of Indira Jaisingh's NGO: HC|last=Correspondent|first=Special|newspaper=The Hindu|access-date=2017-02-12|language=en}}</ref>
==Early life==
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]].<ref name="oh"/> In 1962, completed [[LLM]] a post graduate degree in [[law]] from [[University of Bombay]].<ref name="oh"/>

In 1981, along with her husband [[Anand Grover]], she founded the [[Lawyers Collective]], an 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. Her feminism 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 the protection of human rights and the rights of women.

==Fighting for 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/jaising-leads-protest-against-setalvads-victimisation/881711|title=Jaising Leads Protest Against Setalvad's 'Victimisation'}}</ref>

Some other cases Intervention:

In 2015, Indira Jaising she argued the case for Priya Pillai in Green Peace India case.<ref>http://www.lawyerscollective.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Final-Written-SUbmissions-in-Priya-Pillai-19.02.2015.pdf<nowiki/> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827103825/http://www.lawyerscollective.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Final-Written-SUbmissions-in-Priya-Pillai-19.02.2015.pdf |date=27 August 2018 }}</ref>

In 2016, in Supreme Court v. Indira Jaising has challenged the procedure for designating senior advocates in the Supreme Court<ref>{{cite web|url=http://barandbench.com/scoop-supreme-court-refuses-jaisings-rti-request-senior-designation-terms-jaisings-averments-writ-petition-bad-taste/|title=Supreme Court v. Indira Jaising: Supreme Court admits no Rules for Senior Designation but process 'fair and transparent' - Bar & Bench|first=Murali|last=Krishnan|date=25 July 2016}}</ref>

==Human rights and the environment==

Jaising has represented the victims of the [[Bhopal]] tragedy in the Supreme Court of India in their claim for compensation against the American multinational [[Union Carbide]] Corporation. Jaising argued cases of homeless pavement dwellers of Mumbai who were facing eviction. A keen environmentalist, Jaising has argued major environmental cases in the Supreme Court. Jaising has been associated with several Peoples Commissions on Violence in Punjab to investigate the extra judicial killings, [[forced disappearance|disappearances]] and mass cremations that took place during the period 1979 to 1990. United Nations appointed Jaising and two other experts to a fact-finding mission investigating alleged killings, rape and torture by security forces against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine state.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-un-idUSKBN18Q0ND|title=Indian rights lawyer to lead U.N. probe into Rohingya crackdown|journal=Reuters|date=30 May 2017}}</ref>

==Lawyers Collective==

Jaising later became the founder secretary of the [[Lawyers Collective]], an organization that provides legal funding for the underprivileged sections of Indian society. She founded a monthly magazine called ''The Lawyers'', in 1986, which focuses on [[social justice]] and women's issues in the context of Indian law. She has been involved in cases related to the discrimination against women, the ''Muslim Personal Law'', rights of pavement dwellers and the [[homeless]] and the [[Bhopal]] gas tragedy. She has fought against [[child labor]], for the economic rights of women, estranged wives and [[domestic violence]] cases. The NGO currently has had its license suspended for violating the FCRA norms <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/govt-hits-out-at-indira-jaising-suspends-fcra-registration-of-her-ngo/story-jBGB8qHU6nKmnthuQ8fn7M.html|title=Indira Jaising's NGO 'Lawyers Collective' suspended for 6 months|date=1 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/fcra-licence-of-indira-jaisings-ngo-suspended-for-6-months/articleshow/52541987.cms|title=FCRA licence of Indira Jaising's NGO suspended for 6 months|journal=The Economic Times|last=PTI|date=1 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/indira-jaisings-ngo-loses-licence/article8679272.ece|title=Indira Jaising's NGO loses licence|journal=The Hindu|first=Special|last=Correspondent|date=June 2016}}</ref>

==Other==

Indira Jaising has attended several national and international conferences on women and represented her country at these conferences. Her NGO has been barred by the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) from receiving foreign funds. The NGO ''Lawyers' Collective'' has had their license suspended for violation of foreign funding norms.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/indira-jaising-ngo-licence-suspended-fcra-home-ministry-tax-filings-2829436/|title=Indira Jaising's NGO barred by MHA from receiving foreign funds for 6 months|date=2 June 2016}}</ref> However, the Bombay HC has ordered to defreeze the domestic accounts of her NGO.

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 a member of the [[United Nations]] [[Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women]]. 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 Shri|Padma Shree]] by the President of India in 2005 for her service to the cause of public affairs.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref> Her husband Anand Grover is a noted human rights lawyer and designated senior advocate of the Supreme Court.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://ipc498a.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/indira-jaising-moans-on-the-first-anniversary-of-the-badly-drafted-dv-act/ Woman Against Family] - blog entry by Jaising written on the first anniversary of the domestic violence act
*[https://theleaflet.in/indira-jaising-writes-why-attorney-general-and-the-central-governments-contempt-of-court-petition-against-advocate-prashant-bhushan-stands-on-thin-ice/ '''Contempt, the flavour of the season''']- Indira Jaising writes: Why Attorney General and the Central Government’s contempt of court petitions against Advocate Prashant Bhushan stand on thin ice

{{Authority control}}

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Public Affairs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaising, Indira}}
[[Category:Scholars from Mumbai]]
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women members]]
[[Category:Indian solicitors]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in public affairs]]
[[Category:Additional Solicitors General of India]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:Activists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Women educators from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Women scientists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Educators from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Indian officials of the United Nations]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women lawyers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women lawyers]]

Indira Jaising - Revision history

>InternetArchiveBot at 14:25, 27 December 2021