Brave lawyers who took on incredible cases for human rights

Many are reading this article right now in their home and offices through digital devices. Humans, as a race, has achieved a lot in the past few decades. Thus, ensuring a life of comfort for the current generation. At the same time, there are many people who are far away from luxuries. They struggle for want of basic human rights.

I was recently watching the trailer for a web series called Kaafir on ZEE5. Inspired by a real story, the series follows Kainaaz who is raising her daughter in an Indian jail, having been accused of being a militant. However, a silver lining appears when a journalist/lawyer Vedant takes an interest in her case and fights for justice. The trailer got me thinking about cases where lawyers took on the cause of human right over the years and the impact it left. Hence, I took to writing this article to share inspiring stories for brave lawyers who took on incredible human rights cases.

• Karuna Nundy

Working in Human Right litigation, she has played an active part in the fight for justice in notable cases such as the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy to name one. She has also been instrumental in the drafting of the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2013. She was also one of the powerful voices that fought for freedom for speech in the digital space, leading to the scrapping of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. Also, post the gruesome Nirbhaya case, Karuna actively worked on the anti-rape laws and laws against sexual harassment in India.

• Anand Grover

The Director of the HIV/AIDS Unit of Lawyer’s Collective (India), Anand Grover is a senior advocate in the Supreme Court of India. Over the course of his career, he has worked on several landmark cases such as the Bhopal Gas Disaster case and the Naz Foundation case among many others. He also became known for his work in patent laws, opposing the grant of patents for essential life-saving drugs.

• Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju

Both these lawyers played an instrumental role in the fight for LGBTQ rights and striking down Section 377. Apart from succeeding in striking down the colonial law, Maneka and Arundhati had their names featured in Time’s List Of 100 Influential Persons for the impact they brought with the legal battle for justice. In the past, Arundhati has worked with India’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to draft the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Whereas, Meneka had assisted the Supreme Court as amicus in the Manipur extra-judicial killings case.

With such brave and inspiring lawyers taking up the cause of human rights in the courts of India, I feel that they do represent the idea – #HumanityIsMyReligion. It feels good to know that there is still hope for those who seek justice, with the thought bringing in some much-needed comfort in tumultuous times like ours.