SKOCH India Law Award
Karuna Nundy
Advocate, Supreme Court of India
SKOCH India Law Award
Service to Law
Ms Karuna Nundy
Advocate, Supreme Court of India
New Delhi, 26th Aug 2023
Karuna Nundy is an Advocate at the Supreme Court of India and an International lawyer. She also works with governments to contribute to constitutional and legal drafting and policy.
Ms. Nundy has been listed by Time Magazine as one of teh 100 most influential people in the world, in 2022-2023. She has been described by by the BBC as a “leading lawyer”, the New York Times as a ‘leading civil liberties lawyer’ in an article on free expression, awarded for being one of the “Most Powerful Women in Business” in 2021 for her commercial dispute resolution work.
Currently, Ms. Nundy serves as an expert on the Columbia Global Freedom of Expression committee and a Member of the HIgh Level Panel on Media Freedom chaired by Lord Justice David Neuberger, and founded by Amal Clooney at the request of the Governments of the UK and Canada.
L To R: Gursharan Dhanjal Vice Chairman SKOCH Group; Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group,Ms Karuna Nundy, Advocate; Supreme Court of India
With a solid academic background in Economics, Law, and an LL.M., Karuna is qualified to practice in India and New York. Beyond her legal prowess, she actively engages in public activism, championing women’s rights and fighting against marital rape exemptions in India’s rape law. Karuna’s unique ability to explain complex legal issues in an accessible manner makes her a leading figure in shaping public discourse about rights and liberties. Additionally, she finds solace in songwriting, using her creativity to celebrate the strength and freedom of women.Ms. Nundy’s legal work includes fighting for the rights of the Bhopal gas victims, contributing to the the 2013 ‘Anti Rape Laws’ and the Right to Food Act. She has appeared in some of the most significant cases in India and was one of the lawyers who lead arguments in the definitive online free speech case. She is leading arguments to criminalise marital rape and separately, to legalise queer marriage in part on grounds of freedom to express sexual preference.
She has worked with the governments of Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan on constitutional, legal and human rights reforms. She was invited by the United Nations to advise on legal reform in 192 jurisdictions. Ms. Nundy has trained judges globally at a MOOC of the Bonavero Institute at Oxford University, on international standards required of judges when dealing with ‘blasphemy’ and religious hate speech.
Ms. Nundy obtained a degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s college, Delhi University. Her first law degree is from the University of Cambridge, England where she was awarded the Emmeline Pankhurst prize, the Amy Cohen Awards and the Becker Studentship. She then received an LL.M from Columbia University, New York where she was awarded a Human Rights Fellowship. Ms. Nundy is qualified to practise law in India and New York.
SKOCH India Law Award
SKOCH Award, independently instituted in 2003, is India’s honest civilian honour conferred by an independent organisation as a third party assessment. It is the only award in the country that is based on feltneeds assessment and outcome evaluation based on evidence. It therefore, recognises people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation.
SKOCH Award covers the best of efforts in the area of digital, financial and social inclusion. It encompasses the best of governance, inclusive growth, excellence in technology and applications, change management, corporate leadership, corporate governance, citizen service delivery, capacity building, empowerment and other such softer issues that get normally lost in the glamour and glitz of industry sponsored or advertising focused jamborees.
The SKOCH Award not only acknowledges exceptional achievers – organisations and individuals – but also spurs institutional guidance and best practices in the industry.
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