Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Hima Kohli is slated to lead a panel discussion at an event being held to mark 100 years since the passage of the Legal Practitioner's (Women) Act of 1923, which first granted women the right to practice law in India.
The event, supported by the Society for Democratic Rights and the University of Cambridge, will be held at 4 PM, at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi on October 25.
The event will comprise a film launch and a panel discussion to celebrate the fearless, relentless, and significant contributions of women to the Indian legal system, through their work as judges, lawyers, advocates, policymakers, journalists, academics, writers, and students.
A short film titled ‘(IN)VISIBLE’ by Bhumika Billa (Researcher and Artist, University of Cambridge), funded by Cambridge Creative Encounters will be launched.
The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion deliberating on questions raised by the film, particularly regarding invisibility (or hyper-visibility) of women in the physical spaces of legal work, from an intersectional lens.
The focus of the discussion will be forward-looking, brainstorming agent-based and systemic solutions for dismantling patriarchal, ableist, religious, and caste-based power structures within the legal profession.
The discussion will be a collaborative, critical, and reflexive demonstration on the need for ‘sisternity’ in the fraternity to make the next 100 years of our law offices, litigation chambers, courtrooms, legislative bodies, and law schools safe, welcoming, and empowering spaces for women from all backgrounds.
Justice Hima Kohli will serve as the keynote speaker of the event.
The panel will also feature Senior Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija, Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari, Advocate-on-Record at the Supreme Court of India, Sanchita Ain and Bhumika Billa.
The panel discussion will be moderated by Suhasini Haidar, Editor, The Hindu.