>Death Star Central at 12:33, 31 December 2021

2021-12-31T12:33:09Z

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{{Short description|Indian journalist, politician, advocate and social activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2018}}
{{cleanup reorganize|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jay Mala
| image = 
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| years active =
| citizenship = [[India]]
| occupation = [[Lawyer]]
| spouse = [[Bhim Singh (politician) | Bhim Singh]]
| children = [[Ankit Love]]
| birth_name =
| office = President of Indian Student Congress (1979)
}}

'''Jay Mala''' is an Indian journalist, politician, advocate and social activist.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://epaper.dailyexcelsior.com/epaperpdf/2014/nov/14nov30/page5.pdf|title=Bhim terms ongoing elections battle of Mahabharat|work=[[Daily Excelsior]]|quote=Jay Mala, a senior Supreme Court Advocate and a social activist, also addressed a rally in Chenani Assembly constituency.|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref> She is a [[contributing editor]] for the [[National Herald (India)|National Herald]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/author/448455|title=Mala Jay |website=nationalheraldindia.com|language=en|access-date=2018-07-11}}</ref> a newspaper founded by the first Prime Minister of India. She was co-founder of the [[Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elections.in/political-parties-in-india/jammu-and-kashmir-national-panthers-party.html|title=Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) – Party History, Symbol, Founders, Election Results and News|website=elections.in|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref> prior to which she was President of the Indian Student [[Indian National Congress|Congress]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.scoopnews.in/det.aspx?q=18198|title=Bhim greets Atal Bihari on his 84th birthday|website=Scoop News - Jammu Kashmir|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref> During the height of the extremist [[insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir]], she was one of only seven females candidates out of a total 512 candidates in the 1983 Jammu and Kashmir general election. Jay Mala is a [[Senior Advocate|senior advocate]] of the [[Supreme Court of India]], who in a 1985 landmark case sued the State of [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] changing [[tort law in India]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1227505/|title=Bhim Singh, Mla vs State Of J & K And Ors|date=22 November 2016|website=Indian Kanoon|access-date=2016-12-20|quote=He was taken away by the police. As it was not known where he had been taken away and as the efforts to trace him proved futile, his wife Smt. Jayamala, acting on his behalf, filed the present application for the issue of a writ to direct the respondents to produce Shri Bhim Singh before the court, to declare his detention illegal and to set him at liberty.}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.supremecourtcases.com/index2.php?option=com_content&itemid=1&do_pdf=1&id=15972|title=A Jurisprudential Analysis—Bhim Singh v. State of Jammu & Kashmir|last=Subramanium|first=Giriraj|website=Supreme Court Cases|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref>

== Career ==

=== 1979 Student Protest Arrest at India Gate ===
Jay Mala as the President of Indian Student Congress in 1979 led thousands of university students in protest against the [[Janata Party]] government at [[India Gate]], New Delhi. Then minister of external affairs and future prime minister [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]] attempted to address the angry crowd but was pelted with stones. While bleeding from the head he was protected by Jay Mala, who led him to escape into the neighbouring Parliament building. In the aftermath of the protests Vajpayee personally secured the release of Jay Mala from [[Parliament Street, New Delhi|Parliament Street]] Police Station.<ref name=":0" />

=== Jay Mala vs. Home Secretary, Government of Jammu and Kashmir ===
In 1982 she won a case against the Government of Jammu and Kashmir in the Supreme Court. Jay Mala, acting as a legal aid advocate, secured the release of Riaz Ahmed, proving he was still a minor when he was falsely imprisoned in Jammu and Kashmir.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/203168/|title=Jaya Mala vs Home Secretary, Government Of ... on 29 July, 1982|last=Bhagwati|first=P|date=29 July 1982|website=Indian Kanoon|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref> Chief justice [[P. N. Bhagwati]] quashed the detention stating the prisoner was a school boy protesting for student rights and not as the police had falsely accused him of being an adult threatening grievous bodily harm armed with a knife.

The case set precedent in India for determining the age of a minor detainee. The judges established that a two years margin of error be applied in judicial proceedings to radiological and orthopaedic test results used to determine age in favor of the accused.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://irgu.unigoa.ac.in/drs/bitstream/handle/unigoa/4631/ferrao_r_b_2013.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Enforcing Child Laws and Juvenile Justice in Goa|last=Ferrao|first=Ranjana Beverly|date=May 2013|publisher=Goa University|page=232|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref> The case has been continuously quoted for three decades to secure the release of minors across India,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/313664/|title=Parvez Quadar Khan vs Union Of India (Uoi) And Anr|date=17 January 1990|website=Indian Kannon|access-date=2016-12-20|quote="Learned counsel for the petitioner then contended that since in the case of Jaya Mala v. Home Secy. AIR 1982 SC 1297 : (1982 Cri LJ 1777) the Supreme Court had held that a young boy of 17 years could not be preventively detained"}}</ref> and influenced legislation of the [[Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000|Juvenile Justice Act]], 2000.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kadri|first=Harunrashid|date=January 2004|title=Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000 - Overview|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261028120|journal=Criminal Law Journal|pages=224|via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/docfragment/120737850/?formInput=%22jaya%20mala%22|title=Dharmendra Munib Gupta vs The State Of Maharashtra on 16 July, 2013|website=Indian Kanoon|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref>

=== 1983 Jammu and Kashmir General Elections ===
She co-founded the Panthers Party in 1982, that contested all seats in the [[1983 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election]]s. Jay Mala stood in the [[Udhampur]] constituency as the only female candidate against sixteen other men. She came third with 3,768 votes (13.75%).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1983/StatisticalReport_JK_1983.pdf|title=Statistical Report on General Election, 1983 to the Legislative Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir|publisher=Election Commission of India|page=93|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref>

She polled the second most votes out of all women candidates in the general election.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/SR_KeyHighLights/SE_1983/StatisticalReport_JK_1983.pdf|title=Key Highlights of General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir|publisher=Election Commission of India|page=8|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref> Only seven females had contested out of a total 512 candidates.

=== Bhim Singh, MLA vs State of J&K ===
In 1984 her husband Bhim Singh, an elected opposition member, was illegally arrested and hidden by the police while en route from [[Jammu]] for a debate at the [[Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly]] in [[Srinagar]] scheduled for 11 September, where his vote may have been crucial.<ref name=":2" /> Jay Mala filed a case against the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, including then Chief Minister [[Ghulam Mohammad Shah]] as a respondent in order to find her husband and set him free.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/61710/|title=Bhim Singh vs State Of J&K on 31 August, 1984|date=31 August 1984|website=Indian Kanoon|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref>

After Bhim Singh's release she was his advocate in suing the government for compensation. In a 1985 landmark judgement [[O. Chinnappa Reddy]] awarded her husband 50,000 rupees.<ref name=":1" /> The order of the judgment as the first case for monetary compensation for false detainment, along with its high profile nature made it a quoted case in future litigations across India impacting law of tort.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2sMwFTOrixwC&q=bhim+singh+compensation+case+kashmir&pg=PA124|title=Human Rights from a Comparative and International Law Perspective|last1=Church|first1=Joan|last2=Schulze|first2=Christian|last3=Strydom|first3=Hennie|date=2007-01-01|publisher=Unisa Press|isbn=9781868883615|pages=124–125|language=en|quote=As part of its remedial power, the Supreme Court directs the state to pay compensation. For further illustration the following cases can be mentioned.}}</ref>

In the case judge Reddy also ruled on the politicized nature of her husband's false imprisonment, stating that the two police officers who acted with "mischievous or malicious intent" were mere subordinates and that he did "not have the slightest doubt that the responsibility lies elsewhere and with the higher echelons of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir."<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.hrln.org/hrln/images/stories/pdf/prisoners%20rights%20volume%20ii.pdf|title=Prisoners' Rights Volume II|last=Sakhrani|first=Monica|publisher=[[Human Rights Law Network]]|date=December 2011|isbn=978-81-89479-77-0|location=New Delhi|pages=16-23, 327, 371-355}}</ref>

=== 1987 Jammu and Kashmir General Elections ===
In the [[1987 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election]]s she was a candidate from the [[Jammu]] East constituency. She came fourth out of 19 candidates with 634 votes (2.25%).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1987/StatisticalReport_jk_87.pdf|title=Statistical Report on General Election 1987 to Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir|website=Election Commission of India|access-date=1 January 2016}}</ref>

There were just 13 females out of a total 528 candidates in the general election.

=== 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act protests correspondent ===
Mala Jay wrote for the [[National Herald (India)|National Herald]], strongly in support of protestors during the uprisings across India and against the Citizenship Amendment Act.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/contrary-to-top-bjp-leaders-claims-anti-caa-ncr-protests-are-spreading-not-losing-momentum|title=Contrary to top BJP leaders' claims, Anti-CAA-NCR protests are spreading, not losing momentum|last=Jay|first=Mala|website=National Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-01-26}}</ref> She wrote in favor of university students championing their progressive secular values,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/the-good-news-is-that-indian-students-are-still-secular-and-reject-communal-rhetoric|title=The good news is that Indian students are still secular and reject communal rhetoric|last=Jay|first=Mala|website=National Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-01-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/when-bhu-students-sent-a-tarpaulin-to-pm-modi-the-broken-spell-of-modi|title=When BHU students sent a tarpaulin to PM Modi: The broken spell of Modi|website=National Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-01-26}}</ref> while reporting and berating incidences of police brutality, such as the use of tear gas inside the library of [[Jamia Millia Islamia University]], in contravention to United Nations norms.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/merry-crisis-and-a-happy-new-fear-democracy-under-a-dictator|title=Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear: Democracy under a Dictator|last=Jay|first=Mala|website=National Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-01-26}}</ref> She highly criticized the government's handling of the [[Citizenship Amendment Act protests]],<ref name=":02" /> and gross atrocities committed under the [[NRC Assam|NRC]], where thousands of allegedly stateless persons were being imprisoned in cramped detention centres in India, under inhumane conditions. Some who had died in detention, later had their bodies sent to their families in India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/bias-embedded-in-npr-nrc-implementation-guidelines|title=Bias inherent in NPR-NRC implementation guidelines|last=Jay|first=Mala|website=National Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-01-31}}</ref>

Her article on the Republic Day of India, 26 January 2020 went viral with over 100,000 views in 24 hours,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/154-european-union-lawmakers-draft-stunning-anti-caa-resolution|title=154 European Union lawmakers draft stunning anti-CAA resolution|last=Jay|first=Mala|website=National Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-01-26}}</ref> and was the top story search result on Google for keyword "India", reporting on a resolution proposed by 154 [[MEPs]] in the [[European Union Parliament]] condemning the Citizenship Amendment Act.

== Personal life ==
She is married to [[Bhim Singh (politician)|Bhim Singh]], leader of the Panthers Party. Her son Ankit Love<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newsgram.com/people-of-london-get-ready-here-comes-one-love-party/|title=People of London Get Ready, Here Comes One Love Party|last=Singh|first=Shillpi|date=2016-05-04|newspaper=NewsGram India|language=en-US|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref> is the leader of the [[One Love Party]] of [[Great Britain and Northern Ireland|Great Britain]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.huckmagazine.com/perspectives/reportage-2/ankit-love-revolutionary-royal-london-mayoral-candidate-youve-never-heard/|title=The unknown revolutionary royal who wants to be London's next Mayor|date=2016-05-05|newspaper=[[Huck (magazine)|Huck Magazine]]|language=en-US|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref> She named him Love, with hope he would bring peace to the [[Kashmir conflict]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kashmirlife.net/all-of-a-sudden-kashmir-has-a-king-living-in-exile-103812/|title=All of a Sudden, Kashmir Has a King, Living in Exile!|last=Rashid|first=Saima|date=30 April 2016|website=[[Kashmir Life]]|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/london-mayoral-polls-maharaja-with-message-of-peace/|title=London mayoral polls: 'Maharaja' with message of peace|date=2016-05-02|newspaper=The Indian Express|quote="His mother named him Love with the hope that he would bring peace to the region"|access-date=2016-12-20}}</ref>

She was born to a [[Goud Saraswat Brahmin]] family,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Homeless MP candidate would "shut down" Saudi, Qatari and Brunei embassies in Westminster|url=http://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/homeless-mp-candidate-shut-saudi-qatari-brunei-embassies-westminster/02/06/|access-date=2017-06-04|website=The London Economic|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ankit Love, 33 is the New Leader of the Panthers Party of India {{!}} JK Media News|url=http://www.jkmedia.net/featured/ankit-love-33-is-the-new-leader-of-the-panthers-party-of-india/|access-date=2017-06-04|website=JK Media|language=en}}</ref> and is descendant from the [[Hindu Shahi|Hindu Shahis]] of Afghanistan.<ref name=":3" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/author/448455/mala-jay Mala Jay in the National Herald newspaper]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mala, Jay}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Supreme Court of India lawyers]]
[[Category:Indian civil rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian political party founders]]
[[Category:Indian children's rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Women in Jammu and Kashmir politics]]
[[Category:Activists from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women lawyers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women lawyers]]
[[Category:Women civil rights activists]]

Jay Mala - Revision history

>Death Star Central at 12:33, 31 December 2021