Doyen of law, Justice Leila Seth passes away at 86

A doyen of the legal fraternity, Justice (retired) Leila Seth, passed away quietly into the night on Friday. Justice Seth, one of the three members of the Justice Verma Committee that revamped the rape laws following the horrific 2012 Delhi gangrape case, was an inspiration to the junior lawyers who appeared before her.

The former justice was also instrumental in amending the Hindu Succession Act which paved way and gave equal rights to a girl child in a joint family property.

“She died of cardiac seizure last night, at about 10:28 pm. My brother Vikram, sister and our other family members are here,” her son Shantum Seth told media personnel.

According to those who fondly remembered her, the 86-year-old was “far ahead of her times.” Justice Seth also had many firsts to her name. She was the first woman to have topped the London Bar exam (in 1958), was the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court and she became the first woman chief justice of a state high court (in 1991 in Himachal Pradesh).

For Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium, the loss was personal. “My association with Leila Seth was personal was because she was my mother’s friend. It was later when I …read more