Advocate Lily Isabel Thomas, the senior most woman lawyer practising in the Supreme Court passed away in the early hours of Tuesday December 10, 2019 at the Max Hospital in Patpatganj. She was also the Patron of Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association.
Born in Kottayam, Kerala, she obtained her degree of law from Madras University where she was also the first woman to complete the LLM course. She started her practice in the Madras High Court. In 1955, she moved to Delhi and began practice at the Supreme Court. Over the course of her nearly 60 year long practice at the Supreme Court, she filed many important public interest litigations. She filed the first petition challenging the Advocate-On-Record system. She was of the view that the court did not have the power to subject the advocates to this exam as Section 30 of Advocates Act provides that all the advocates have the right to practice in all Courts across the country, including the Supreme Court and thus, no restriction could be imposed in this regard.
She has been the mind and intention behind striking down Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act that allowed convicted lawmakers to continue without disqualification during pendency of appeals challenging the conviction. The landmark ruling, paved a new standard for the election of leaders, seen to cleanse politics from criminalization.
She had filed the petition in the Supreme Court on stopping conversion of religion for Bigamy. With her efforts, the Supreme Court reaffirmed in 2000 that a man whose marriage is governed by Hindu laws, cannot enter into a second marriage merely by changing his religion, unless his first marriage is dissolved.
She was devoted to improving the existing laws by fighting through petitions and considered this the responsibility of every lawyer. Even at her age she continued to appear in court and worked for 8-10 hours every day.
She was a very bright and pleasant lady whose eyes sparkled with wisdom. She questioned everything and never ceased the process of constant learning. Her demise is a great loss to the nation and even humankind. She was kind, compassionate and did numerous cases pro bono, in order to fulfill her ulterior motive of public service. She was a compassionate, yet fierce lady who inspired everyone with the way she led her life in peace. A noble torchbearer will always be missed by us all.
The Holy farewell will be given from the residence of Adv. Saju Jakob on Wednesday 11.12.2019 at 10:30 am at 178, Engineer’s Estate, I.P Extension, Opp. Madhu Vihar Mandawali Police Station, Patparganj, New Delhi-110092.
The prayer meeting shall be held at the Church afterwards.
Funeral Service: 11.12.2019, 04:30 pm at Dayanand Muktidham Cremation Ground, Lala Lajpat Rai Road, Nizamuddin West, Delhi-110013.
—India Legal Bureau