"Judges have to be legally right. They don’t have to be politically right", said Justice Prathiba M Singh, Judge, Delhi High Court on Friday. .Justice Singh was speaking at an interactive session organized by the Delhi High Court Women's Lawyers Forum..The session focused on the theme 'Commercial Litigation: Minding The Gap And Closing In'. .Apart from Justice Singh, Anuradha Dutt, Advocate & Managing Partner, DMD Advocates spoke at the session. .The session was moderated by Advocates Kajal Chandra and Geetika Panwar..Sharing her thoughts on whether public opinion should be considered in matters of public interest, Justice Singh remarked that public perception did not matter and Judges went by the law and the Constitution of India..While spekaing on the Sabarimala Temple case, Justice Singh said that deciding something as a legal issue was different from deciding things from the prism of faith. .Giving the choice to women to decide whether she wants to go to a particular temple or not, if it is as per law then that’s the judgment that should be...As a person, I have a different view about a particular temple but as a judge, you only go as per law.Justice Singh said. .Faith and public opinion do not matter, Justice Singh explained..Speaking on the same theme, Dutt opined that judges did fall prey to public perception..She spoke on the Ayodhya judgement by the Supreme Court and its anonymity and remarked,."Here, it looked like they were ashamed to put their name.. For judges to fall prey to public perception is contrary to justice.".No substitute for hard work, tell yourself you are here to stay: Justice Jyoti Singh speaks at Delhi HC Women's Lawyers Forum.During the virtual session, Justice Singh and Dutt also spoke on their initial professional training and earlier influences and stressed on the value of hard work. ."Competence beats everything", Justice Singh said. She asked women lawyers to pick their battles, read a business newspaper and drop the victim mentality. ."It is not about men versus women. It is about more and more women", Justice Singh explained as she stressed on the need of having competent women in the legal profession..While Justice Singh shared that winning the Novartis case as a solicitor was her defining moment, Dutt remarked that she was "not made of one case". .Please don’t think Vodafone made me. I was a good lawyer and I had clients..Why did Vodafone come to me?.. Vodafone saw me and that’s why they came to me. My defining moment is when I became an independent lawyer.Dutt said. .Dutt also said that in her 38 years of practice, she never faced any gender issue in the High Court..Dutt remarked,.“We are breaking the glass ceiling, not because of one case but because our society is evolving. In the 90s, the society developed... 2000s, the society developed more. The problems that women had in 80s are issues which have to some extent broken down.".She added, ."Women or men are equally good, both have to work hard ..In this profession, there is no other option. Yes, it’s a patriarchal society; men have that lead. But I don’t think that if a woman tries hard, she will lag behind.".Dutt also opined that although there was a need for more judges, a "quota" for that purpose was not required. ."It will happen organically.. We should not make a case for that.", Justice Singh said. .Watch the full video here:
"Judges have to be legally right. They don’t have to be politically right", said Justice Prathiba M Singh, Judge, Delhi High Court on Friday. .Justice Singh was speaking at an interactive session organized by the Delhi High Court Women's Lawyers Forum..The session focused on the theme 'Commercial Litigation: Minding The Gap And Closing In'. .Apart from Justice Singh, Anuradha Dutt, Advocate & Managing Partner, DMD Advocates spoke at the session. .The session was moderated by Advocates Kajal Chandra and Geetika Panwar..Sharing her thoughts on whether public opinion should be considered in matters of public interest, Justice Singh remarked that public perception did not matter and Judges went by the law and the Constitution of India..While spekaing on the Sabarimala Temple case, Justice Singh said that deciding something as a legal issue was different from deciding things from the prism of faith. .Giving the choice to women to decide whether she wants to go to a particular temple or not, if it is as per law then that’s the judgment that should be...As a person, I have a different view about a particular temple but as a judge, you only go as per law.Justice Singh said. .Faith and public opinion do not matter, Justice Singh explained..Speaking on the same theme, Dutt opined that judges did fall prey to public perception..She spoke on the Ayodhya judgement by the Supreme Court and its anonymity and remarked,."Here, it looked like they were ashamed to put their name.. For judges to fall prey to public perception is contrary to justice.".No substitute for hard work, tell yourself you are here to stay: Justice Jyoti Singh speaks at Delhi HC Women's Lawyers Forum.During the virtual session, Justice Singh and Dutt also spoke on their initial professional training and earlier influences and stressed on the value of hard work. ."Competence beats everything", Justice Singh said. She asked women lawyers to pick their battles, read a business newspaper and drop the victim mentality. ."It is not about men versus women. It is about more and more women", Justice Singh explained as she stressed on the need of having competent women in the legal profession..While Justice Singh shared that winning the Novartis case as a solicitor was her defining moment, Dutt remarked that she was "not made of one case". .Please don’t think Vodafone made me. I was a good lawyer and I had clients..Why did Vodafone come to me?.. Vodafone saw me and that’s why they came to me. My defining moment is when I became an independent lawyer.Dutt said. .Dutt also said that in her 38 years of practice, she never faced any gender issue in the High Court..Dutt remarked,.“We are breaking the glass ceiling, not because of one case but because our society is evolving. In the 90s, the society developed... 2000s, the society developed more. The problems that women had in 80s are issues which have to some extent broken down.".She added, ."Women or men are equally good, both have to work hard ..In this profession, there is no other option. Yes, it’s a patriarchal society; men have that lead. But I don’t think that if a woman tries hard, she will lag behind.".Dutt also opined that although there was a need for more judges, a "quota" for that purpose was not required. ."It will happen organically.. We should not make a case for that.", Justice Singh said. .Watch the full video here:
