Justice BV Nagarathna spoke to NDTV in an exclusive interview
Bengaluru:
More women are coming forward to take up roles in the country’s judiciary, once a male-dominated space, Supreme Court judge Justice BV Nagarathna told NDTV in an exclusive interview today.
Justice Nagarathna, 61, is in line to be the country’s first woman Chief Justice. This morning, she attended a lecture at National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, in the memory of her father and India’s 19th Chief Justice ES Venkataramaiah. The memorial lecture was delivered by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
Speaking to NDTV, Justice Nagarathna said that while she was determined to continue a career in the judiciary, she did not know she would become a judge and get elevated to the Supreme Court. “As the years rolled by, it became clear and dreams were fulfilled.”
On her father’s advice to her at the beginning of her judicial career, Justice Nagarathna said, “He would always tell me to finish tomorrow’s tasks today and today’s tasks now because an advocate never knows when she would be required to give legal advice. Another advice was to always be present in court when cases are called out. If the advocate is not present, the judge may feel that she has no interest. So the advocate must be present and prepared.”
The judiciary in the country, she said, had been a male-dominated space for long. “Women found it difficult to function in that space. But many women are now crossing those hurdles and coming forward. Now, at the district judiciary level, over 50 per cent of judges are women. There are many women now in legal practice too,” she said.
Justice Nagarathna said women have to strike a balance between work and family to move forward. “I am very lucky because family supported me a lot. My husband, BN Gopalakrishna and my daughters Nayanthara and Prerana, understood very early that my work is very important because we want to deliver justice to others. They have cooperated a lot,” she said.
“There is a saying that behind every successful man, there is a woman. But I would say that behind every successful woman, there is a family. So I am very lucky that my family supported me a lot,” Justice Nagarathna said.
On what would be her advice to young women eager to build a career in law, the judge said, “More women should come into the profession and decide how to divide time between work and family. They need to be determined that husband, children and in-laws (need attention), but work needs to be done.” She said if women advocates receive support from their families, there will be more women judges.
