Jayna Kothari

Executive Director

jayna[dot]kothari[at]clpr[dot]org[dot]in

Jayna is a co-founder of CLPR. She is a Senior Advocate and practices in the Supreme Court of India. She graduated from University Law College with a B.A. LL.B degree and read the BCL at Oxford University. Jayna was awarded the Wrangler D.C. Pavate Fellowship in Cambridge University.

Jayna’s research and practice interests include constitutional law, gender and sexuality law, disability rights and discrimination law. She had argued in the Supreme Court in the recent constitutional challenges to Section 377 and adultery which were both decriminalized. She also argued the Independent Thought case in which the Supreme Court recognized child marital rape as a criminal offence. Her book, “The Future of Disability Law in India” was published in 2012 by Oxford University Press.

Publications

Blog

PUBLICATION | What Stories do the Numbers Tell? A Data-Driven Narrative to Seek Women’s Equal Opportunity in the Higher Judiciary in India

September 23, 2025

Why do women remain so underrepresented in India’s higher judiciary?

A new article published in the Socio-Legal Review (NLSIU) — “What Stories Do the Numbers Tell? A Data-Driven Narrative to Seek Women’s Equal Opportunity in the Higher Judiciary in India” — uses data to show how entry routes, later appointments, and systemic gatekeeping limit women’s path to leadership.

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Closing the Gender Gap in the Higher Judiciary

March 10, 2025

Women in law have seen great progress over the last 100 years in India. The first woman lawyer, Cornelia Sorabji, was entitled to practice in 1924. Since then, the number of women lawyers has increased, several women have been designated Senior Advocates, and there have been many women judges in the lower judiciary. However, there remains a glass ceiling for women in the higher judiciary.

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Justice DY Chandrachud and Gender Equality in the Higher Judiciary

January 1, 2025

The judicial appointments made by the Chandrachud-led Collegium become an interesting point of analysis, especially in the context of gender equality. In this piece, we seek to analyse the extent to which he was able to get more women in the higher judiciary. The Supreme Court started publishing all resolutions of the Collegium since October 2017 on the Supreme Court’s website.

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Karnataka High Court Women Lawyers’ Roundtable: Equality Within the Higher Judiciary

February 18, 2025

On November 28, 2024, CLPR organized a roundtable discussion in Bangalore with women lawyers practising in the Karnataka High Court focusing on women’s equality in the higher judiciary. The event bought together senior advocates, government pleaders and independent lawyers to examine barriers preventing women from attaining leadership positions within judiciary and legal institutions.

Addressing the Gender Gap in the Higher Judiciary in India: Roundtable with Women Lawyers | Chennai

February 5, 2025

The Roundtable was part of CLPR’s ongoing research on the gender gap in the higher judiciary in India. The Roundtable brought together senior women lawyers including women Senior Counsels and other women advocates from the Madras High Court.

CLPR | Trans Law Quarterly | Issue VI

June 28, 2022

This Pride Month, we are happy to present to you the VI Issue of our Trans Law Quarterly. In the past two years of the pandemic, we witnessed the tireless efforts of LGBTQIA+ activists, policymakers, litigants and judicial officers which resulted in timely court orders and policies safeguarding and advancing the rights of transgender persons. Putting together the quarterly has provided us a chance to reflect on how far we have come and how long the road ahead is.