My sisters and daughters,
You took offence at the winking remark by me on a fb post, which was made in lighter vein, and which I deleted shortly after it was made. You demanded an apology from me, which I promptly made on fb and twitter ( and make it again here ).
But what has deeply grieved me is that you have totally misunderstood me, and depicted me as a person who has a misogynistic and regressive mindset, looks down and demeans women, is a male chauvinist, sexist, etc, etc. So let me set the record right, and relate what I have done for women. I am just the opposite of what you have depicted me to be.
(1) In my article ‘On Women’s Emancipation’ written many years ago I described in detail how women have been oppressed for centuries :
http://justicekatju.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-womens-emancipation.html
(2) In the articles and video below I have said that Indian women are the real heroes of India, because they work day and night to keep their families going, feeding them, and looking after them, and all this they do anonymously, without asking anything in return for themselves, and without wanting any recognition.
https://justicekatju.com/the-brave-women-of-the-indian-subcontinent-7577a3e506ff
(3) Working women have a double burden. They have to do their work ( e.g. as a doctor in a hospital, a lawyer in court, or a teacher in school ), and then come home to do household chores like cooking, washing clothes and utensils, cleaning, taking care of the children, etc. In Western countries husbands share in these household chores, but that is rare in India, where most men still have the feudal mentality that household chores must be done by their wives alone, even if they are also working women.
(4) In Allahabad High Court, where I practised from 1971 to 1991, and then was a Judge from 1991 till November 2004, a big problem for the lady lawyers was that there was no urinal for them. So they had to go to some restaurant or other place in Civil Lines having a urinal, which was very inconvenient as that was over a mile away from the High Court.
When I became the Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court in August 1991 one of the first things I ordered was building a huge Lady Lawyers Hall within the High Court premises, having wash rooms, toilets, a canteen, plenty of comfortable chairs, etc. I named this Hall as the Cornelia Sorabjee hall ( after the first lady lawyer in India ), and it was exclusively for lady lawyers practising in the High Court
(5) In November 2004 I became the Chief Justice of Madras High Court. I came to know that many lawyers in the High Court, and many persons in the High Court Registry, were young married women with small children. So I allotted some rooms in the High Court building for setting up a creche, got some toys etc for the children who would be there, and appointed 2 women to look after the creche. ( Mr Mohan Parasaran, Advocate helped me in this ) This was the first creche in any High Court in India, and perhaps it is still the only one. Young married women who were practising or working in the Registry could leave their small children in the morning in the creche, where they were looked after and fed by the women employees there, and take them home after their work in the High Court was over.
After reading all this, my sisters and daughters, tell me : did I deserve your condemnation, castigation, invectives, rebuke, excoriation, vituperation, deprecation and denunciation ? You vilified, stigmatized, pilloried, besmirched, tarnished and skewered me. Will you now show the decency to apologize to me ( just as I apologized to you )
My email to Mahalakshmi Pavani, President SCWLA
( mahalakshmipavani@hotmail.com sradvmahalakshmipavani@gmail.com )
To The President
Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association
Mahalakshmi Pavani
Madam,
Please read this article and share it with members of SCWLA
https://legalmaestros.com/column/to-the-members-of-the-supreme-court-women-lawyers-association-and-other-lady-lawyers-in-india-by-justice-katju/
Justice Katju
Former Judge, Indian Supreme Court
New Delhi
24.8.2025
Whatsapp number xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
email : justicekatju@gmail.com
To The President
Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association
Mahalakshmi Pavani
mahalakshmipavani.39@gmail.com
Madam,
Please read this article and share it with members of SCWLA
Justice Katju
Former Judge, Indian Supreme Court
New Delhi
24.8.2025
Author
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