Less women judges due to fewer female lawyers, efforts to get them on dias: Justice Hima Kohli

By Amiya Kumar Kushwaha
New Delhi [India], October 12 : Retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Hima Kohli highlighted the efforts to bring in more women in judiciary as she pointed out that the pool of choice is lesser as far as women practitioners are concerned.
Speaking to ANI, Justice Kohli said, "As far as the women in the judiciary are concerned because the pool of the women is lesser from among the lawyers, then naturally the pool of choice is lesser for the collegiums of all state high courts to select the women, and still, there is an effort to look out for good women and lookout for domain specialist which has been happening in the recent past and get them on board."
Justice Kohli said that even up to the 90s, the number of women practitioners was very few and explained the possible circumstances behind it. She said that some women lawyers have to take breaks in their careers to take care of children.
"Such of their contemporaries with whom they had started their career by then had gone much higher and achieved much more. Some women lawyers return to their careers because their clients are retained due to the backup within the family network. But for some, retention of the clients can't take place. Many times, the women have to relocate from the city where they're practising post-marriage," Justice Kohli pointed out.
"They sacrifice their career for the sake of the family, for their married life," she outlined and said that such scenarios have changed from 2000 onwards as some women practitioners push the marriage to a bit later to be able to make a name for themselves in their career or work harder and then marry.
"And there's also been a trend among many of the youngsters to marry a bit later and establish themselves before they look at marrying at all so that in a way has worked for women, practitioners were willing to work harder, work longer hours and work shoulder to shoulder with their male colleagues to be able to deliver their expectations of their clients," Justice Kohli said.
Justice Kohli also shared the story of women practitioners facing difficulties due to fewer restrooms for female lawyers. Remembering her initial days in legal professions in the national capital, she said that it is very difficult because there is one toilet in a women's bar room in Delhi High Court.
"In the High Court, the situation was like that, you can imagine what it was like in the district courts earlier with only at that point of time two district courts, Tis Hazari and Patiala House courts, the situation was very difficult. Women found it impossible to practice," she said.
Justice Kohli also explained the judge population ratio and said that the way the amount of litigation is being spewed, it becomes a struggle for the courts to handle it. She further highlighted the need for some thought about the new statutes that are introduced by the legislature.
"The impact of those statutes or the litigation and the expansion of litigation is direct," she said citing an example of a random legislation like the Negotiable Instruments Act, which has spewed so much of litigation across the country and called for a balance.
"We need more judges. When we need more judges, then besides the judge, we need a whole paraphernalia which includes the courtrooms, the supporting staff, and all of it. So it's easy to say increase the number of judges. In Delhi, we have reached a stage and currently where young judicial officers, have no courtrooms to go to. So though they are being trained, they have no place where they can hold court. How difficult is that? How will they be able to dispense justice? They can't be in District Court sitting in division benches. There's no such concept of division benches. Sometimes we have to make alternate arrangements for them, sometimes, they are assigned other kinds of work." Justice Kohli added.