COVER STORY 35
COVER STORY 35
Pinky Anand is an Indian lawyer designated as Senior Advocate and is also a politician. She is currently the Additional Solicitor General of India at the Supreme Court of India.
In 2007, Pinky was designated as Senior Advocate, and in 2014, she was appointed as Additional Solicitor General of India. She is the second woman lawyer to be appointed to this post after Indira Jaising was appointed in the UPA 2 tenure.
Pinky represented the French government in the famous case of Clemenceau against genetically modified food in India, etc. She was also Arbitrator with the Indian Council of Arbitrations. According to Pinky, her life-changing court case was when she, then a novice in law, appeared against reputed Jurist L. M. Singhvi and eventually won.
Pinky is considered an expert in the field of constitutional law, property, private international law, family law, environmental law, and corporate law. She was Head of All-India Legal Cell at BJP and is former Additional Advocate-General for the State of Uttarakhand.
Describe your journey as a leading woman lawyer?
I decided to become a lawyer as a fresh graduate. I think the major motivation came from the fact that I was an active member of the political scene in the Delhi University. I was brought into politics at the level of Delhi University when I was at the Campus Law Centre. I was the first woman secretary in the Delhi University Students’ Union and had full opportunity to engage in social activism.
I chose law as I appreciated its independent professional status. It has not always been an easy journey. When I joined the profession, it was predominantly maledominated.
I was fortunate to have the tutelage of the best from my professors at Harvard Law School and Lady Shri Ram College. I was lucky to have received the best in education and support, especially from Mr K K Luthra, Senior Advocate, during my initiation into the profession. Not having any family in this line, I had to learn the ropes the hard way. Starting from the Trial Courts, I made my way upwards. I would advise others to use the same path.
I love the challenges of law. What I find exciting is the unchartered territories; issues that impact large cross-sections of society; constitutional issues; emerging issues. There are so many cases that I have been involved with that I find it difficult to enumerate. To name a few, the triple talaq case, the case of the French ship Clemenceau brought into India for ship breaking; the Khushboo matter which became path-breaking for freedom of speech; framing of guidelines for good Samaritans in accident cases; legalizing e-rickshaws; bringing drinking water to Delhi; effectively doing away with the pernicious practice of Devdasis: amplifying the dimensions of domestic violence laws, strengthening family planning policies in India; the SEBI case where recently judgment was pronounced upholding the SEBI amendments, paving the way for efficient and active disposal of cases; the constitutional case of Arjun Munda CM which led to his becoming the CM; delimitation cases; and scores of others.
Describe the challenges that you have faced as a leading woman lawyer?
As I said, at the time when I entered the profession, it was a male bastion. There was only a smattering of women, and that too, at junior levels. Women had just started to come out in the light and flourish throughout the country. It was only the beginning. Not only that, law at that time was not considered a desirable profession, being rather exacting in most ways. Today of course, law is the most-sought-after profession. I was in any case not only the first lawyer, but the first professional in my family. I hail from a business family and had no silver spoon or lineage advantage. I had to chart my own course. Women lawyers were hardly at the top of the profession or preferred. The general mindset placed women as amateurs. I will be honest to say that in my case, recognition came easy- it was never a real battle. You needed to prove your seriousness and commitment and somehow that worked. I consider myself blessed that fate has been kind. I was a debater and speaker at all levels, which helped me along the way. Positions of importance were given at all stages, academic, extra-curricular, political, professional. I got an opportunity to hone my skills.
Living in Delhi, it was the notion for a change that propelled me to excel in the field. I chose to start working with women-centric laws because at the time, they needed to be developed. The mindsets needed to be changed. It warms my heart to see that the changes that I envisioned all those years ago have come to pass today, and I consider myself fortunate to have played a part in precipitating them.
www. legaleraonline. com | Legal Era | November 2017