Apex court judge criticised for listing daughters as ‘liability’

NEW DELHI - Supreme Court judge Gyan Sudha Misra has come under criticism from the legal fraternity for declaring the future marriages of her two daughters as “liability” with a senior counsel calling it as manifestation of a “retrograde mindset”.

Misra, the only women judge in the Supreme Court at present, shocked everyone by declaring “two daughters to be married” against the liabilities column on the Supreme Court’s official website listing the assets of sitting judges.

Most of the counsels contacted by IANS expressed their shock but understandably refused to be named.

One lawyer refused to comment while another tried to evade a response by saying he hadn’t read the newspapers.

Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan described the act as manifestation of a “retrograde mindset”.

“It shows very backward and retrograde mindset and it is not expected from a judge of Supreme Court,” Bhushan told IANS.

He said daughters should be “regarded as an asset and not a liability”.

Misra had also included her standing as “guarantor for education loan of my daughter” as a “liability”.

Bhushan said declaring education loan as a liability was understandable but not daughters’ marriage.

However, senior counsel Pinki Anand said that what Misra said was an indication of the expense she would incur on the marriages of her daughters.

“As far as I understand, it is an expression of investments one has in mind for the weddings of daughters. After all, wedding, be it of a son or a daughter, involves expenses,” Anand said.

“After all, whenever we plan investments, we take into account the education, the career settlements and the marriages of children,” Anand added.

But Anand agreed that listing of these expenses under the liability head may not be strictly in accordance with the format of assets and liabilities disclosure by the judges of the apex court.