By Tripti Nath
The Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court, Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra, established an instant rapport with poor, semi-literate and tribal women from the remote villages of Jharkhand recently when she took a dispassionate look at social disparity.

Addressing a large gathering of women in Itki in Ranchi district, Justice Mishra said, "If you had similar opportunities, we would have been at par. Now you should not allow your children to suffer a similar fate. Why is that I am addressing you and you are listening to me? Why this gap when all of us are human beings? It's because I had opportunities and you did not."
Justice Mishra is the only woman Chief Justice and senior-most woman Judge in the country and her name has been recommended for the coveted post of Judge in the Supreme Court of India. The move has generated a lot of interest within the legal fraternity and media circles because it means that the Supreme Court will get a woman Judge after a gap of almost four years - the last woman Judge in the Supreme Court, Justice Ruma Pal, having retired in June 2006.
Incidentally, Justice Mishra is a second generation Judge. Her father, the late Satish Chandra Mishra, was the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court between 1968 and 1970. Although she was born and raised in Patna, Justice Mishra is not new to the Capital. She was based in Delhi for almost two decades, even working on some cases with her father, who was fortunate to see her elevated as a Judge to the Patna High Court in 1994. The then transfer policy necessitated that she preside over a Court in another High Court and so she moved to Rajasthan High Court in Jaipur, where she served as Judge from 1994 to 2008.
Those known to her say that she is in fact very familiar with Delhi and knows almost every nook and corner of the Apex Court. As a practicing lawyer, she has worked with leading legal luminaries like Ram Jethmalani, Soli Sorabjee, P.P. Rao, P.C Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal. A sign of her popularity in the Apex Court was her victory in the Supreme Court Bar Association elections, when she was elected treasurer and Joint Secretary. She has been elected member executive several times as well.
Married to a metallurgical engineer, Justice Mishra has had to juggle her professional duties with her family responsibilities. Sources close to her family recall how she managed to find time to shuttle between Jaipur and Delhi in the 14 years when she was a Judge with the Rajasthan High Court to meet up with her family in Delhi. Her husband, an introvert, is extremely proud of her numerous achievements, as indeed are her three career-oriented daughters. Justice Mishra's first-born holds an MBA degree from a US business school and is also a law graduate. Her second daughter is a software engineer and is all set to join Columbia University for an MS in Computer Science. The youngest is enrolled in a five year law course in Pune.
Thanks to Justice Mishra's long years in the legal profession, she has been able to garner rich and varied experiences. For instance, during her eventful stint in Rajasthan, where she also held the post of Executive Chairperson of Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority, she focused on several social concerns. Grassroots activists in the state recall how fiercely she had opposed child marriages, female foeticide and the trafficking of girls.
During a relaxed interaction on diverse issues over dinner in Ranchi early this year, Justice Mishra came across as extremely cordial, pleasant and modest. At the time, I remember talking to her about the negligible representation of women on the Bench in the higher judiciary and the plight of qualified lawyers working out of suffocating, matchbox sized chambers in the country's subordinate courts. Justice Mishra heard me out with great interest. She also observed that being a Judge called for a lot of hard work and that being a lawyer translated into working like a machine
It's this ability to listen, observe and understand people, coupled with inspiring influences at home in Patna, a city she calls her 'Janambhumi' (birthplace) and partly her 'Karmabhumi', that have propelled her into the spotlight. Born into a large family, Justice Mishra grew up in a very enabling environment, with her father and late brother, Shilesh Chandra Mishra, being inspiring role models. In fact, her brother was a promising senior advocate of the Patna High Court.
Justice Mishra did her schooling from Carmel Convent High School and later went to Patna Women's College, one of the premier educational institutions for girls in the region. She got her graduate degree in law (L.L.B) and postgraduate degree in Political Science from Patna University. Armed with the knowledge of jurisprudence and political science, she moved to Delhi in 1973 where she got a chance to work with B.P. Singh, who was later elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court. The following year she cleared her Advocate-on-Record examination after which she began practicing with her father. Among her innumerable achievements, Justice Mishra clearly remembers representing India at the International Women Judges Conference in Ottawa, Canada, in 1998.
Reading reams of legal papers may be an indispensable requirement of her job but Justice Mishra is also known for her literary taste. Her family members say that she is a voracious reader, and is sometimes so engrossed in an article or book that she can sit up late into the night reading.
A woman of many talents and a fine legal mind, Justice Mishra has always been a trail-blazer. Her expected elevation to the Supreme Court will serve to inspire a new generation of young women aspiring to make a mark in the legal profession.
(© Women's Feature Service)