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Lavenya R
17BLA1043
Karuna Nundy
Who is Karuna Nundy?

Well, she is a Supreme Court lawyer, her focus of work being constitutional law, commercial
litigation and arbitration, media law and legal policy. She is also a woman who has been
described as one of three feminists leading a new wave, along with Vrinda Grover and Arundhati
Roy by the Times of India. She has served as a lawyer in New York, international tribunals and
the United Nations. Forbes magazine had described her not long back as a “Mind that Matters”
and Mint had referred to her as “Agent of Change”.

Her Early Life

An Economics student of St.Stephen’s College, Delhi University, she worked a short while as a
TV journalist. Studying Law at Cambridge University, she was rewarded with many an award
– Emmeline Pankhurst Prize, the Amy Cohen Awards and the Becker Studentship. She
pursued LL.M at Columbia University, and passed out with flying colors. She was awarded a
Columbia full-time fellowship.

Her achievements within the country

“Growing up in a society with both extreme poverty and riches, I realised early on how unfair
life was. Certain things that happened in my childhood—molesters just grabbing you on the
streets, an incident in my school where the principal went into victim-blame mode—made me
think about how I could bring about change and gain the power to fix things most effectively.”

This thinking made her set out on a journey she has not looked back from nor regretted ever.

Though she could have worked as a lawyer in England after her graduation, she was particular
about coming to work in India because she wanted to make a huge contribution.

In an interview to the Huffington Post early on, she had said, “I felt that here is where I could
make the biggest contribution—not just in human rights work, but also as a general lawyer. I felt
this is where the need was. I have a visceral understanding of these various layers [here], in
terms of language, in terms of nuance, and information…It is also a court of ideas, as much as it
is a court of facts. It has been quite a leader when it comes to economic and social rights.”

She has taken the bull by the horns in many an area that would make staunch men hesitate.
Anti rape laws

The Nirbhaya Rape Case was a major turning point in her life when she became increasingly
engaged with laws dealing with anti rape and sexual harassment of women in India. The horrific
incident that gained momentum both within the country and all corners of the world, was seen as
a prime example of how patriarchy plays an important role in the power dynamics between men
and women which results in such gruesome acts like rape

Nundy had been consulted during the process towards the preparation of the Verma Committee
Report that was set up by the government to review India’s Anti Rape Laws. Though the
Report did not meet with much success initially, it was a precursor to the efforts that brought
about the passing of Criminal Law (Amendment)2 Act, 2013– “the anti rape bill.”

Nundy, has been along with other lawyers, working on a bills of rights for women called the
Womanifesto. Here too she draws attention to marital rape which she says is perpetrated on a
hapless victim under the garb of patriarchy and hence she wants marital rape to be granted the
status of a crime.

Bhopal Gas tragedy

Karuna Nundy is one of the few lawyers who has been and continues fighting to seek justice for
the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy. She was also involved in getting safe water to the
communities in these areas, cutting off of carcinogenic and chemical filled groundwater to these
areas, getting free healthcare and medical aid to the people there. She did challenge the
governmental and corporate nexus, which was very difficult to break through because of the
increasing corruption.

66A Judgement on Online Speech Rights

In this case of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India which struck down section 66A of the
Information Technology, 2000 (that dealt with issues of freedom of speech and censorship),
Nundy appeared on behalf of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an NGO that
defends civil liberties and human rights in India.

International fame

● She has helped draft parts of the interim constitution of Nepal, where she specifically
included women’s and children’s rights.
● She has conducted workshops with the senate of Pakistan on legislating constitutional
rights.
● She has worked with the government of Bhutan on compliance with their international
treaties.
Other fame

● Her experience is shared by her in many talk shows, interactive programmes, discussions
on social media to spread awareness and uphold the value and dignity of basic rights.
● She is very much involved in commercial arbitration and bilateral investment treaty
work, as well as constitutional work.

Today she is a woman who has many responsibilities to shoulder, has responsibility to the
commitment she had made to herself that made her return to India and she fully
acknowledges this and continues to fight for issues that concern the rights of the womankind
of India.