Happy to bask in ‘Suitable Boy’ Vikram’s glory: Leila Seth

Bengaluru: Justice Leila Seth was the first woman to do a lot of things top the London Bar, become a judge of the Delhi High Court and eventually the Chief Justice of a state high court. Despite her tremendous achievements, the diminutive 83-year-old who is full of smiles for anyone who comes her way, is happy to sit back and let the world know her as Vikram Seth’s mother.

“I went to Bangladesh many years ago, when I met the President. They introduced me as Justice Seth, so he shook my hand. But when they said I was Vikram Seth’s mother, he was so happy he hugged me. They had read A Suitable Boy and they loved the sort of tolerance and open-mindedness Vikram talks about. So yes, I’m happy to be called Vikram’s mother,” she said.

Justice Seth has been very vocal about Article 377, for it means now that people like her son are criminals in their own country, just for existing and following their hearts. “It’s patently wrong,” she said at once. “Judges have been allowed to interpret it in their own way, the Delhi High Court certainly does, but this is ridiculous. We can hope that the bill will be introduced in Parliament, but the Parliament is a different kettle of fish.” India welcomed the transgender community but that was destroyed by the British. “Now the British have changed their laws and we haven’t,” she added.

However Justice Seth was here for more than just Article 377. She was part of a panel called ‘Women’s Narratives – From the personal to the political,’ to discuss the role of women in a male dominated world. “When I came back from London, people told me law was not a profession for women,” she recalled.

She was sent to the Bihar High Court, where every day was a struggle. “There were only two of us women and the other was very big and hefty,” she said. “She was left alone, but I was constantly questioned about my life, my clothes, why I left my air-conditioned house for a non air-conditioned court room!” She refused to take women’s cases, determined to stick with mainstream law. “If I took women’s cases, I would be typecast and I didn’t want that,” she said.

Justice Seth is full of reminiscences and describes a particular incident with a solicitor in Patna. “He briefed me, I gave him my legal opinion and he never paid me,” she said. “It was only Rs 51, but I really wanted it and when I ran into him at a party a few months later, he said that he sent my opinion to the client who replied saying he didn’t want a female opinion. The solicitor then sent my opinion out to a senior advocate who simply replied saying ‘I endorse her views’. So topping the London Bar didn’t compare with my being a woman.”

She was then mentored by Sachin Choudhury, who later went to become the Finance Minister. “When I first met him, he asked if I was married. When I told him I was, he said that I should have a child. I said I did. So he said, go have another. I told him I did that too. He liked my persistence and told me I could stay,” she said. “After that, though, he did a lot for me.”

Today, the world is different. Justice Leila Seth looks proud when she says, “I went to a meeting of women lawyers today and there were 300 of them! I remember a day when there were only three!”