On this day. August 05, 1991 Justice Leila Seth became the first Indian Woman Chief Justice of a State High Court

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On 5th August 1991, Justice Leila Seth became the first Indian woman Chief Justice of a state High Court. She was also the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court. Leila Seth was born in October 1930 in Lucknow and was the first woman to top the London Bar exam and joined the Bar in 1959.

In the same year she also graduated as an IAS officer. Upon topping the Bar in England, Seth was referred to as “Mother-in-Law” by a London newspaper, which carried a photograph of a young and attractive Leila Seth with her infant son, born only a few months before the exams.

Delhi High Court’s first Women Judge Leila Seth speaks dueing the All India Womens conference ‘Justice JS Verma committe report and the aftermath”‘ in New Delhi on saturday. Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal New Delhi 300814

She began her law practice in 1959 in Patna as one of only two women lawyers practicing in the high court there. Seth overlooked a large number of tax matters, such as income tax, sales tax, excise and customs. Apart from tax, Seth also handled cases related to civil, company and criminal cases, along with matrimonial suits. In 1978 Seth was appointed the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court and in 1991 she became the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh.

A part of a committee along with former Chief Justice of India JS Verma, set up to suggest amendments to the criminal law to deal with heinous crimes like rape after the December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya case.

As an expert in the field of law, Leila Seth refers to laws as “springboards”, as they set for people a way, a vision and a target to get things done; though their implementation takes time.  According to Seth, first there are laws and then there is awareness about those laws. After that comes assertion and action of those laws.