Published Sep 01, 2026 | 11:42 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 01, 2026 | 11:42 AM
Advocate Indira Jaising specifically pointed out the complaints raised by a female judge she represented.
Synopsis: Senior Advocate Indira Jaising said sexual harassment is the “dirty secret” of India’s judiciary, revealing that several women judges have approached her with complaints against male colleagues. She attributed the problem to entrenched hierarchy and criticised feudal practices within the judicial system that disproportionately affect women judges.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising has levelled serious allegations regarding the functioning of the Indian Judiciary by stating that she had been approached by several female judges who complained of sexual harassment at the hands of their male colleagues.
Jaising specifically pointed out the complaints raised by a female judge she represented. The judge allegedly lost her job because she refused to comply with a demand made by her male colleague to dance to an “item number” at his 25th wedding anniversary party.
The prominent lawyer called sexual harassment a “dirty secret of the Indian judiciary that no one wants to talk about” and blamed the embedded hierarchy in the system for such incidents.
Speaking at the 29th D.S. Borker Memorial Lecture on ‘My Vision of India: 2047 A.D’, Jaising said she had been approached by several female judges with complaints of sexual harassment.
“In the course of my experience, I have had to deal with women judges. I have represented a lot of women judges. These women judges have come to me with complaints about sexual harassment by male judges, which is why I did write in my book that sexual harassment is the dirty secret of the judiciary of India. No one wants to talk about it,” she said, reported LiveLaw.
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Jaising pointed out two instances of sexual harassment shared with her by one of her clients.
“This woman judge I was representing told me that when a High Court judge retires, women District Court judges are asked to line up, wear sarees of the same colour, and throw flowers at all the male judges who walk past entering the dining room. This is the practice of the higher judiciary,” she said.
Jaising said the female judge also shared another disturbing account of sexual harassment, which also led to her losing her job.
“…the same woman judge who told me this faced sexual harassment by a judge who told her “come to my 25th wedding anniversary party and dance on an ‘item number’, which she resisted, for which she lost her job,” Jaising said.
The senior lawyer blamed the hierarchy within the judicial system for facilitating such misogynistic practices.
“The High Court and Supreme Court judges expect this from District Court judges, and it has devastating consequences, most particularly for women judges,” she said, adding that she hoped such practices would end by 2047.
Jaising expressed hope that things will change for the better in the future. She pinned her hopes on the Constitution of India and said that as long as the ruling party is prevented from making any changes to it, there is hope for change.
“…so long as we as citizens are able to prevent the ruling party from changing the Constitution of India, there is hope. Because so long as the Constitution of India stays as it is, there is no single aspect of this government which is extra-constitutional which can’t be challenged,” she said.
She also slammed the BJP-led central government’s attempts to introduce delimitation under the guise of women’s reservation.
“… we know that attempts are being made to change the Constitution itself. The means through which this is being done are very clear. The linking of the delimitation exercise with women’s reservation, the very act of delimitation without any legal assurance that the federal system will remain in place, the idea of having one nation, one election- these are destructive ideas of the Constitution of India,” Jaising said.
Jaising’s concerns regarding the growing number of sexual assault cases and hierarchical and feudalistic practices within the judiciary were shared by former High Court Chief Justice Dr S Muralidhar, who also spoke at the event.
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(Edited by Fayisa CA)
