SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, June 7: A majority of lady lawyers in the Dhanbad Bar Association seem reluctant to contest the poll and feel the atmosphere of the bar is not congenial for them.
Around 70 lady lawyers are there among 4000 members of the Dhanbad bar but in the present election scheduled tomorrow only five lady lawyers are contesting. Nitu Rani for the post of joint secretary ( library) and four other ladies Anita Kumari, Punam Kumari, Sudha Kumari and Sunita Kumari are contesting for the Governing Council (GC) member post.
In fact, in 115 years old Dhanbad Bar Association only a single lady lawyer advocate Jaya Kumar had been elected for the vice-president post in 2008-09. Since then no lady has won. In 2016-18 one of the senior most lawyer late Jayanti Mukherjee Sinha contested for the post of president but lost.
Nitu Rani was a GC member in the outgoing committee and this time she is contesting for the post of joint secretary.
“There is no congenial atmosphere in Dhanbad for lady lawyers to contest the poll. Whoever tries to contest she is defamed and humiliated. In this situation how would senior lawyers come to contest for the higher posts”, said Devjani Ghosh Mitra, a senior most lawyer.
Mitra said she had joined the Bar 20 years ago but the situation is the same as it was at that time. There is no sitting arrangement or washroom for the lady lawyers. No committee in 115 years of the bar has initiated steps for facilities of lady lawyers.
Advocate Jaya Kumar also admitted that the lady lawyers are hesitant in contesting for higher posts because they are susceptible of their win. “ It is pathetic that lady advocates are not taking seriously the election. But same time it could be said that the condition of the bar is still not friendly for them “, said Jaya Kumar.
However, senior lawyer Abhay Bhatt said due to fewer numbers, lady lawyers are not contesting the election for higher posts. “ No doubt their numbers have increased and they should contest on higher posts”, he said.
But senior lawyer Rajni Mukherjee, the daughter of famous criminal lawyer SN Mukherjee said of course present condition is not congenial. But lady lawyers would contest for senior posts in the near future.
“ I had immense pressure from lawyers to contest for the joint secretary post but I refused because my profession would have been affected. If elected I would not have been able to discharge the responsibility of the post properly and that would be injustice. So I will say lady lawyers should contest for the higher posts”, said advocate Mukherjee.
