#Nirbhaya

So M.L.SHARMA is the defense lawyer of the accused in Nirbhaya case who made his opinion very clear that girls are just meant to be symbols of “Sensitivity and Good-looks” and need to be “protected”. In his statement to the BBC documentary “India’s Daughter” he clearly states his belief in women’s inferiority to men in a very flagrant manner. Being in a society and working in a judiciary system that is trying to promote gender equality, I wonder how this man did not worry about saying something as outrageous as this.

If we include the possibility of him making this statement in order to justify his client’s actions, we should keep in mind that if he were to do that, he should not have been generally talking about women but should have specified Jyothi Singh and talked about the case on hand. Being a highly qualified lawyer of the Supreme Court he should have already known this and yet he chose to comment on women and their inferiority to men. This just shows that it was his opinion and that he wasn’t trying to just defend his clients. Let’s take another example. Would Anjali Waghmare, Ajmal Kasab’s defense lawyer, have given her statement in favor of terrorism just because Kasab was her client? She instead tried to justify Kasab’s actions. That’s how defense lawyers work.

Secondly, being an advocate, a protector of the constitution, it is his social responsibility to protect and promote the notions of the constitution, one of them being gender equality. Articles 15 (1), 16, 39(a), 42, 15(3) emphasize repeatedly the importance of GENDER EQUALITY. And here we are with this lawyer openly opposing it.

One of the main duties of lawyers, judges and the jurisdiction system , even before their duty towards their clients ,is the acceptance and protection of the fundamental rights, the very first one being RIGHT TO EQUALITY. Now could I know why this man does not deserve to be fired! The Indian Constitution says breach of fundamental rights may lead to punishment and direct trial at the Supreme Court. Now may I know why this man shouldn’t be punished?