For over five decades, Indira Jaising has been at the forefront of some of the country’s landmark legal battles on gender inequality, state violence, and institutional apathy. In her memoir The Constitution Is My Home (HarperCollins India), co-authored with the feminist publisher Ritu Menon, the senior advocate blends personal history with the story of a nation striving to uphold its constitutional ideals.But the book is more than a chronicle of the professional journey of a legal luminary. It is also a deeply personal account of growing up in a family displaced by Partition, revealing how a lifelong search for belonging came to shape her understanding of identity and justice. In doing so, Jaising lays bare the intimate relationship between the personal and the political, weaving together the story of a life in law with that of a nation still striving to realise the constitutional promises upon which the republic was founded. In an interview at her office in New Delhi, the octogenarian reflects on the many challenges confronting the judiciary and why she believes the country must repeatedly return to the Constitution in moments of crisis. Edited excerpts:
In conversation with senior advocate Indira Jaising
