Justice Leila Seth, first Woman Chief Justice of State High Court dies at 87
Ashish Kedia
Noida (06/05/2017) : Justice Leila Seth, who was the first woman judge in Delhi High Court and also became the first woman Chief Justice of a state High court in India, died at the 87 years of age in Noida on Saturday.
She was born in October 1930 and became the Chief Justice in Delhi High Court on August 5, 1991.
She was also the first woman to top the London bar exam in 1958. Justice Seth was mother of an infant child when she appeared for the Londan bar exam and a renowned newspaper of London called her as ,”Mother in Law”. The difficulty that she might had to face during those times while venturing into a field still not very used to Woman can easily be noted from the fact that many other newspapers of London even expressed grief over a married lady acing an exam where 580 illustrious individuals have appeared.
Leila Seth’s autobiography titled ,”On Balance” was published by Penguin India in year 2013. In this she talked about her struggles, homelessness, working experience in Delhi, Patna and Calcutta as well as 50 years of happy successful marriage. She had three children namely Vikram Seth, the renowned writer, Shantum and Aradhna.
Lately she was also the part of committee formed after Nirbhaya gang rape to suggest amendment in criminal law to deal with sexual assault cases.
As destiny would command, it was only yesterday that four convicts of Nirbhaya gang rape were accorded with death sentence by honorable Supreme Court of India.
On Saturday she breathed her last at her sector-15, residence in Noida.
