Justice Leela Seth was the first woman Chief Justice of the High Court. First she was appointed in Delhi High Court, then in the year 1991 she was transferred as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court. During his tenure, he heard many important cases. She mentions one such interesting story in her autobiography ‘Ghar aur Adalat’. Leela Seth writes that words and language are the weapons of writers or lawyers, but both of them play a very important role in childhood. I understood this when I was hearing a case. The parents of a child were separated from each other and were fighting for his custody. The father came to the court demanding the custody of the child.
When the child came to court
One day during the hearing that child also came to the court. I took him to my chamber to make sure what was really right for him. I asked him, ‘Who do you want to live with?’ He replied in English – ‘With his father..’ ‘When I asked why he wanted to live with his father, he said, ‘Because he loves me very much.’ I said, ‘Don’t your mother love you?’ He maintained silence.
Seth writes that after this I further asked, ‘Do you like your father’s house?’ The answer was, ‘Yes, yes, I want to live with my father.’ Have you thought carefully?’ So he said, ‘Yes, I love my father and want to live with him…’
Why did the policeman suddenly start walking with AK-47 behind the Chief Justice? missed the chase with great difficulty
The judge quickly caught the lie
Leela Seth writes: During this question-answer session, I noticed that the child seemed very stressed. After some time, I suddenly started asking questions in Hindi and asked him, ‘Think carefully and tell me where you want to live?’ So he replied flatly, ‘I want to live with my maternal grandparents. He loves me very much and I also love him very much. Then I will also be able to meet my mother who keeps coming there sometimes.
The child further said, ‘I have lived with my maternal grandparents for many years, but when mother got a job in another city, father brought me with her..’ Saying this, he started crying.
I memorized the answers like a parrot
After this I realized that now the child was expressing his true feelings and whatever he was saying earlier in English, all that had been memorized to him like a parrot. Obviously, knowing that the language of the High Court is English and the child would be asked questions in English only, his father had sent him the answers by heart, but as soon as he spoke to him in his mother tongue Hindi, the truth came out. But now he was afraid that his father would be angry because of whatever he had said.
A strange noise started coming from the roof of the Chief Justice at midnight; I started sweating out of fear; Kept ringing the bell but no one came
Seth writes that I consoled the child and asked, ‘You don’t want to live with your mother?’ So she said, ‘No, with my maternal grandparents because they are the only ones who take good care of me and educate me. So I made sure that he stayed with his maternal grandparents and was happy.
Tags: DELHI HIGH COURT, Supreme Court, supreme court of india
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 4, 2024, 13:40 IST