While going through my old notes I stumbled upon the diary which I used to keep when I started my practice as a young lawyer. Consequently, for the sake of posterity, I wish to record the day I first entered into the courts as a newly qualified advocate. The date was 3rd September 2016. The courts were the Tis Hazari District Courts in New Delhi.
I had been visiting the chambers
of a Learned Advocate who had a well-established practice. I had started being
regular to his chambers and used to spend most of the day reading case files
and helping him prepare list of dates, case notes, do research on judgments
etc. It was during the course of visiting his chambers that I was asked to attend
court hearings and observe court proceedings as that would help me in
understanding court craft better. I was told that a lawyer learns more by
observing rather than reading.
As a newbie lawyer, I did not
want to directly go to the court of the District and Sessions Judge. You can
say that I was still green behind my ears and did not want to thrust myself before
the gaze of the senior most judge of the court, even as an observant. On the
civil side, I was inclined more to visit the court of the Civil Judge to see the
matters being argued, before making my way up to the court of the District
Judge. Hence, I randomly wandered into the courts and settled for the court of
Learned (henceforth “Ld.”) Civil Judge Mahima Rai, Delhi Judicial Service.
The case was Meeta Kumar vs
Surender Kumar Jain. At the time of writing this article, almost 7 years
after the date of the hearing which I attended, the case is still going on
before the court of the Ld. Civil Judge and is at the stage of
Defendant/Respondent Evidence. Its first hearing took place on 14th
October 2014.
I am presenting here a full background, facts and final disposal order of the court so as to make sense of the arguments advanced during the hearing that I duly noted down in my diary.
