In Talking of Justice, eminent jurist Leila Seth discusses several critical issues that she has engaged with in a legal career spanning over fifty years—violence against women; the nurture of the girl child; the need for a uniform civil code; women’s rights; prisoners’ rights; gender sensitization of the judiciary; and judicial administration, among others. From the landmark Justice Verma Committee (2012-2013), on which she suggested amendments to the law as well as speedier trials and more effective punishment for all those accused of sexual assault and violence against women, to her experience as a member of the 15th Law Commission of India (1997-2000), to her appointment as the one-member commission to enquire into the custodial death of Rajan Pillai (1995-1997), Leila Seth shares her insights on some of the most substantive and contentious matters facing the nation today.
Keenly observed and elegantly argued, Talking of Justicegoes deep into the laws of the land that need to be reviewed and revised, and offers suggestions for protecting the rights of the people, especially those who are marginalized and vulnerable.
Leila Seth was the first woman to top the Bar examinations in London, the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court, and the first woman to become chief justice of a state High Court. She was appointed as a judge in 1978 and retired as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh in 1992. In 1995 she was appointed as a one-member commission to examine the death in custody of Rajan Pillai and to suggest improvements in medical facilities for prisoners. She was a member of the 15th Law Commission of India (1997-2000) and one of the three members of the 2012 committee (known as the Justice Verma Committee), which was constituted in the aftermath of the rape in Delhi of the young woman known as Nirbhaya.
She is the author of two previous books, her autobiography, On Balance, and We, the Children of India, which explains the principles of the Indian Constitution to its younger citizens.
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