Education and Background
Priya Hingorani is a Delhi based senior advocate. She completed her schooling at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi and graduated in B. A. English (Hons.) from I.P. College for Women, University of Delhi. Thereafter, she completed her Bachelors in Law (LL.B.) from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.
She is a leading advocate and activist, who continues her mother’s legacy of fighting for the right cause. Priya is the daughter of Nirmal Hingorani and Kapila Hingorani, both late Senior Advocate. Kapila Hingorini was a leading lawyer of the Supreme Court and described by many as an “institution” by herself or the “mother of Public Interest Litigation (PIL)” in India. She filed the very first PIL in India, pertained to prisoners languishing in jail awaiting trial for long periods, at times exceeding the period they would have been in jail.
This PIL led to the reading of the fundamental right of speedy trial as being implicit in Article 21 of the Constitution and to the immediate release of about 40,000 undertrial prisoners.
Legal Journey
She has been in active law practice since the year 1990 when she was enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi. Her primary practice has been in the Supreme Court of India, and has also appeared in the High Courts of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Punjab & Haryana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir as also Tribunals and subordinate Courts. Has handled matters pertaining to diverse fields of law, including taxation, customs and excise, insurance, family and matrimonial law, commercial law, labour and service law, human rights and constitutional law. A list of some of the reported judgments of the Supreme Court of India is annexed hereto. She has worked with Dr. Debi Prasad Pal, Senior Advocate, and former Minister of State for Finance. Assisted Dr. Pal on important matters relating to taxation (direct and indirect), customs and excise before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and various High Courts in India.
Carrying Mother’s legacy, Priya completed her mother’s unfinished job battle against triple talaq in Shraya Bano’s case. She played an important role in this case and has also been a pioneer of women rights for the last decade. She considers her mother as her role modal who shaped who not gave her the passion for law but also taught her to lead a life with kindness and empathy.
Apart from being an active spoke’s person in School, she was a keen sportsperson and has represented the Delhi State as well as the University of Delhi in Basketball. She was also an enthusiast of music, theatre and travelling. She has been actively practicing law since the year 1990 when she was enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi. Her primary practice has been in the Supreme Court of India and has also appeared in the High Courts of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Punjab & Haryana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir as also Tribunals and subordinate Courts. She was nominated as a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court in 2019.
She has handled a varied types of matters pertaining to diverse fields of law, including taxation, customs and excise, insurance, family and matrimonial law, commercial law, labour and service law, human rights and constitutional law.
Her very first case, although as a law student, was to fight for women’s right to play basketball. The first women basketball team in a law school, which Priya Hingorani was a part of, wanted to participate in the inter-college basketball tournament. She along with her team moved to the court with a writ petition, luckily, she had to argue for the team since the day their case was listed it was a lawyer’s strike and she had to argue for herself. The team received an order in their favour and even ended up as the runner ups in the tournament.
Her first case as an advocate holds an emotional place in her heart, as she discussed in her Tedx interview. The case concerned a Muslim woman who was sold off by her in-laws for giving birth to a girl. She considers this case as a breakthrough in her outlook towards law.
Her journey includes various traumatic cases like these where she stood up for women’s rights and fought with bravery. One such encounter was the case she dealt with in her early years of practice. Despite being threatened she has never given way to courage.
She is also involved in the elections, she was also elected as the first secretary of the Bar Association of India, after 50 years of commencement of the Supreme Court.
She is not only a successful lawyer but also a women rights activist and regularly speaks on practical aspects of laws concerning women. She has been a part of various landmark judgements including the triple talaq case, State of Jharkhand v. Harihar Yadav (pertaining to workers’ rights), and Ranjana Kumari v. State of Uttranchal (Pertaining to rights of Schedule Castes in Public Service Commission)
Image: Lokmatmews.in
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