On eve of Retirement of Hon’ble Mrs. Justice Gyan Sudha Misra, Judge, Supreme Court of India
(27th April,2014)
In the Mountains of Tibet
Younger Lama asked Elder
Lama
“What can you say about
Justice Gyan Sudha
Misra?”
Elder Lama replied,
“She underlined
something which
No one in Supreme Court
Did in last few years
Younger Lama looked a
bit puzzled
He reflected
But he could not come
across anything
Which Justice Misra had
underlined
In last few years
and other judges had
missed it
After reflecting for
sometime,
He asked again
“What did she
underlined?”
Elder Lama replied,
“Judges here and everywhere else,
Listen to lady advocates
Kindly, Sympathetically
and Dismissively
“They do not give much
weight to what they argue
‘All women's minds are
emotional
All men's minds are
logical,
Therefore, all lady
advocates' arguments
Are bound be emotional
And not logical
And therefore irrational
And therefore not that
important’
"And therefore they
look upon them protectively!
“But this does not help lady
advocates
This does not correct them
This does not help them
In making more rational
arguments next time.
Graces of Judges
Have never done good to anyone
“On the other hand in
cases of male advocates
Judges come down
scathingly on them,
Whenever they argue
irrelevant!
This helps male
advocates to quickly understand
What works and what does
not work
In Supreme Court or in
any other court.
They therefore come out
sharper and better
after each argument”
Elder Lama thus explained
The eternal
discrimination of Judges,
All over world,
Towards lady advocates
Being too
kind and too soft to
lady advocates
Was not helping them to
grow up
In otherwise tough battlefields of Court !
Younger Lama listened to
Elder Lama
Then he asked again,
“And how did Justice Misra gave hearings to lady
advocates?”
Elder Lama replied,
“She listened to them
without being biased by their gender
When they argued
irrelevant,
She bluntly and curtly
told them so!
She was also rough and
tough on them,
Whenever they argued
irrationally
"But then she told
them which questions were relevant,
And which were not
"She gave them time
to prepare on relevant questions
And asked them to come
prepared on next date!
She thus used to force
them
To do homework
And to come better
prepared
"And this helped
many lady advocates
in becoming better advocates
in Apex Court
Elder Lama thus
explained the difference
Which Justice
Gyan Sudha Misra had
underlined.
(2)
“Why do male judge
always look gender biased?
Why do they always look
kindly at lady advocates?
Is it wrong to look
kindly and protectively at Lady advocates?
Younger Lama asked
troublesome questions
Elder Lama gave him
troublesome answers
“Men play one favorite game on
All women
All the time
All over the world
Since many many
centuries...
This game is defined by
psychologists as
'I Make You Feel-Good-Game'
And this makes all women
all over world
Dependant on men
And creates in them
A necessity to “Feel
Good”
This is the Law of Human
Nature"
Said the Elder Lama
(3)
Younger Lama asked again,
“How would you describe
Any one best quality of
Justice Gyan Sudha Misra?
Elder Lama replied,
“She is a Fighter”
This confused Younger
Lama once again
All lawyers and judges
are supposed to be fighters!
Then why did Elder Lama
described
Justice Misra as a fighter?
He wondered
Elder Lama explained,
“All of us are not true fighters.
Whenever we have to
fight
We keep a safety net
ready to fall upon
Justice Misra used to
fight without safety nets
"We live with a safety
net of conventions
As a child we learned
That our safety lies in
our family,
So we accepted all
conventions of our family
As we grew
up, we learned
That our safety lies in
our social circles
So we accepted all
conventions of our circles
When we joined any
institution,
We learned that our
safety lies in Institution's Conventions,
So we accept all
conventions of our Institution
We thus developed a
habit of fighting
With a safety net
We seldom fight against
conventions
A person who can fight against conventions
Is truly a fighter
He fights without a safety net
Mankind progresses
Whenever any individual stands up
Against conventions,
And does things
Which were not done so far by others.
Justice Misra is one
such person
She fought against many
conventions
As a lawyer
As well as a Judge
Without safety nets of
conventions”
Replied Elder Lama
Then, the two lama
Went down the hills
To beg for daily alms,
Towards the cluster of
huts of poor tribal
-Haresh Raichura
Advocate on Record
Supreme Court
haresh.raichura@gmail.com
