Arundhati Katju
Arundhati Katju is a lawyer qualified to practice in India and New York. She has litigated many notable cases at the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court, including the Section 377 case, the case of a trans man being illegally confined by his parents, the Augusta Westland bribery case, the 2G spectrum corruption case and the Jessica Lal murder case. Her law practice encompasses white collar defence, general civil litigation, and public interest cases.
Early life and education
Katju was born in Allahabad, India to Vivek and Geeta Katju. She completed her senior schooling from Air Force Bal Bharati School in New Delhi in 2000.Katju obtained a B.A.LL.B. degree from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. After practising at the Indian bar for 11 years, she enrolled in the LL.M. program at Columbia University, New York where she was a Human Rights Fellow, James Kent Scholar, and Public Interest Honoree. Her doctoral research at Columbia University, as a Finkelstein Fellow, considers issues of criminal and constitutional law in India.
In the year 2019, in an interview with CNN Fareed Zakaria, Katju revealed that she was in a relationship with lawyer Menaka Guruswamy, with whom she convinced the Supreme Court in 2018 to decriminalise Section 377. She said that the two were indeed a couple and that the victory was not just a professional benchmark but also a personal win.
Career
Katju enrolled in the Indian bar in 2005 and joined the chambers of Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra where she practised as a criminal defence lawyer for five years. As a white-collar defence lawyer, she defended clients in the 2G spectrum bribery case and the Jessica Lal murder case, and represented investigative journalists in the Cash for Questions exposé.Katju started her own law chambers in 2011 in New Delhi. Her practice at the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court covers areas of criminal, civil and constitutional law, as well as arbitration.
In 2016, Katju drafted the lead petition in Navtej Singh Johar and Others v. Union of India, the case that led the Indian Supreme Court to strike down Section 377, the Indian sodomy law. She has also litigated other significant LGBT rights cases in India, including Suresh Kumar Koushal v Naz Foundation and Shivani Bhat v GNCT of Delhi.
She has also represented India’s leading public university, Jawaharlal Nehru University before different forums, and also been a prosecutor for the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.
Alongside her commercial practice, Katju represented nearly 100 indigent clients in criminal appeals for the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee for three years. The Delhi High Court has appointed her Amicus Curiae in criminal matters on numerous occasions.
Katju was admitted to practice law in New York in 2018.
Decriminalization of homosexuality
Katju represented the lead petitioners in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India pertaining to the decriminalization of homosexuality in India. In a landmark judgment, the 5-judge Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as not applicable to consenting adults.She had previously appeared for University professors before the Supreme Court in the case of Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation.
Illegal confinement case
In Shivani Bhat v. National Capital Territory of Delhi & Others, Katju represented Shivani Bhat, a 19-year-old trans man who was deceitfully brought from the United States to India by his parents. Katju filed a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court on behalf of Bhat for protection from harassment and his right to return to the United States. The Delhi High Court ruled in favour of Shivani and ordered, inter alia, that Shivani’s parents must return his travel documents so he could travel back to the US. The Court reaffirmed his right to self-determination, travel and education.August Westland VVIP Chopper Scam
In the Augusta Westland corruption case, where middlemen and Indian officials were alleged to have received kickbacks in a deal to purchase helicopters, Katju represented former Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi. Tyagi was granted bail after his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation.Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee
As a panel lawyer for the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee, Katju appeared pro bono in nearly 100 cases, arguing appellate and parole briefs on behalf of indigent persons accused in cases of rape, murder, child sexual abuse, narcotics offences etc.Amicus Curiae
Katju has been appointed Amicus Curiae by the Delhi High Court in criminal appeals to represent both accused and complainants in cases of theft, dowry death & murder on numerous occasions since 2009.Academic career and consultations
Katju researched issues of Indian criminal and constitutional law at the Centre for Study of Law and Culture, Columbia Law School. She has also taught white-collar defence at the National Law University, Delhi.Katju worked with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, India to devise special procedures for criminal trials in cases of sexual offences against children. The Commission’s proposed Bill was considered while drafting the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
Honours
In 2016, Katju was awarded the prestigious Human Rights Fellowship by Columbia University, New York and the Women’s International Leadership Program Fellowship at International House, New York. She was also awarded Columbia Law School’s Herman N. Finkelstein Memorial Fellowship. In 2018, she was a US-Italy Young Leaders Fellow. Katju was a TEDx Speaker at TEDxFerhadija’19 where she spoke about how ‘Stories can change the law’. In April 2019, her name featured in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People, along with other prominent personalities such as Menaka Guruswamy, Xi Jinping, Nancy Pelosi and Hasan Minaj.In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named her one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people".