Geeta Ramaseshan is a much-respected lawyer of the Madras High Court with over 35 years of experience as a litigator. She is known for her work in upholding the rights of women, is a famed commentator on gender issues, and is on the boards of multiple organisations empowering females and minorities. When she settles down in her chambers for a conversation after a long-winded mediation procedure, she is friendly, humble, energetic, and leaves you starry-eyed with her erudition and charm.
When asked about her schooling, she laughingly complains about being asked to recollect events from so long ago. “Dhanbad in undivided Bihar was a place of great contrasts and interesting phases due to the initial days of the Jharkhand movement coupled with the coal mafia issue. However, I had a sheltered upbringing, studying in an all-girls Christian missionary school with its own set of different disciplines. The mining colonies as we called them were secluded and we young people weren’t allowed to go out much,” recounts Geeta who studied in Digwadih’s Carmel School.
Dhanbad to Chennai
Geeta then moved to Chennai where she first pursued a B.A. in Economics at Ethiraj College and went on to complete law in Madras Law College as it was known then. “Coming here was an exploration of freedom in more ways than one. Chennai was a very interesting place, it still is interesting. Coming to Ethiraj College was a lot of freedom, opportunities, independent decision-making and forging of new friendships. Ethiraj really moulded me as a person,” she muses, when asked about the transition.
Geeta Ramaseshan was an avid debater, served as the general-secretary of the college union and was first introduced to feminism during her time at Ethiraj. Describing her initial endeavours into feminism, she mentions one of her earliest inspirations “Ms. Rajalakshmi from the Economics department was one of the founding members of a feminist group called Pennurimai Iyakkam, and pushed me into women’s rights activism. From her, I learnt feminism which then inspired me in my career.”
Advent into law
Geeta’s grandfather, a lawyer in Mannargudi, inspired her to pursue law. Fresh out of Ethiraj and deeply involved in the ‘70s feminist movement, she wished to use law as a tool of social change and see it empowering the women around her.
“Madras Law College fostered a highly politicised environment even then and frequent strikes were almost a norm. It was a pure law course in a time before Prof. Madhava Menon’s reforms. We studied torts, criminal law, jurisprudence, international law, and other basics. We couldn’t choose the specialised subjects available now,” reminisces Geeta, who wasn’t one to stop with academics. “We had classes for three to four hours each day and I did a host of other things after college. I read a lot and even worked in a lending library for the opportunity to read the books there. I also took up part-time assignments related to my subjects.”
Geeta, who enrolled as a lawyer in 1982, talks admiringly of G. Ramaswamy, M. Raja, and N.T. Vanamamalai. She says they taught her how to think on her feet and adopt an interdisciplinary approach, pushed her to fight for social causes even when she thought that a case wouldn’t be maintainable, and gave her a grounding both in civil and criminal law respectively.
She believes that more ought to have been written about the careers of women advocates who simultaneously managed families and lawyering, that she labels ‘exacting’.
To young lawyers
“I would like the tone of pleadings to change and reflect women’s experiences and feminist language to a greater degree especially in trial courts,” she opines. When asked about why one should choose the profession, “Litigation may not pay you that much.
It is also challenging, frustrating, demanding, and exhilarating, but only because it keeps you in touch with the problems of the people,” declares Geeta as she signs off.