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The Constitution Is My Home: Conversations on a Life in Law| Senior Advocate Indira Jaising in Conversation with Ritu Menon| Memoir of a sen
'I may not have been one of the founding mothers of the Constitution, but I am one of its founding daughters. Founding a nation is a continuous process, one without end. This is where I have lived, loved and worked—and that is where home is. The Constitution of India is not just a text ... [It] is where my home lies.'
Few lawyers have shaped India's constitutional landscape as consistently and fearlessly as Indira Jaising. For over five decades, she has led some of the country's most consequential legal battles, compelling the law to reckon with the realities of gender, inequality, state violence and institutional neglect.
In The Constitution Is My Home, Jaising looks back upon a life spent on the frontlines of law and activism. In conversation with Ritu Menon, she reflects on the cases and causes that have defined her Mary Roy and the fight for equal inheritance; Rupan Deol Bajaj and the pursuit of justice in the face of sexual harassment; Olga Tellis, which recognized the right to livelihood for pavement dwellers; Shayara Bano and the challenge to triple talaq; her long advocacy for the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy; and the Sabarimala case, where she argued for women's right to worship. She also offers sharp observations on the present, marked as it is by rising Hindu nationalism, a judiciary in retreat and a democracy growing brittle by the day. Through it all, she unfailingly returns to the Constitution--as scripture, argument, shelter and home ground.
Clear, unsparing and deeply political, The Constitution Is My Home is both a vital record of resistance and a call to hold fast to the republic's founding promises by one of the most inspiring legal minds of the country.
Few lawyers have shaped India's constitutional landscape as consistently and fearlessly as Indira Jaising. For over five decades, she has led some of the country's most consequential legal battles, compelling the law to reckon with the realities of gender, inequality, state violence and institutional neglect.
In The Constitution Is My Home, Jaising looks back upon a life spent on the frontlines of law and activism. In conversation with Ritu Menon, she reflects on the cases and causes that have defined her Mary Roy and the fight for equal inheritance; Rupan Deol Bajaj and the pursuit of justice in the face of sexual harassment; Olga Tellis, which recognized the right to livelihood for pavement dwellers; Shayara Bano and the challenge to triple talaq; her long advocacy for the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy; and the Sabarimala case, where she argued for women's right to worship. She also offers sharp observations on the present, marked as it is by rising Hindu nationalism, a judiciary in retreat and a democracy growing brittle by the day. Through it all, she unfailingly returns to the Constitution--as scripture, argument, shelter and home ground.
Clear, unsparing and deeply political, The Constitution Is My Home is both a vital record of resistance and a call to hold fast to the republic's founding promises by one of the most inspiring legal minds of the country.
218 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 20, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 20, 2026
This is a book that deserves to be read now more than ever and then revisited, again and again.
Reading her journey, one thing becomes abundantly clear: Indira Jaising is who she is because she never stopped pushing herself, never stopped asking difficult questions, and never settled for comfortable silence. That relentless conviction echoes through every chapter of her life. Whether it is the hawkers’ rights case, her fight for women facing domestic violence, the battle for equal inheritance rights, the Sabarimala verdict, or her unwavering faith in the Constitution as the bedrock of Indian democracy and the rule of law, her work is driven by an uncompromising sense of constitutional morality.
What struck me equally was her resistance to communal politics and her reflections on the importance of protest. Reading those pages inevitably brought me back to the present, to the protests against an education system that continues to fail young people, to the crushing reality of unemployment, and to an entire generation being forced to abandon dreams they worked tirelessly for.
She is who she is because she understands power. More importantly, she understands the institutions that exercise it. Whether it is the legislature, the executive, or the judiciary, nothing is beyond scrutiny. She insists that every institution must remain accountable, and that the judiciary, above all, cannot afford the luxury of silence. Her observation that, since 2014, only the NJAC judgment and the Electoral Bonds judgment truly reflected the judiciary standing up to the government was particularly thought-provoking.
You may agree or disagree with her political conclusions. But what is impossible to ignore is her unwavering commitment to the Constitution and her insistence that constitutional values must prevail over partisan interests. She reminds us that the Constitution is not merely a legal document, it is a promise, and it survives only when citizens and institutions have the courage to defend it.
That, for me, is the most enduring takeaway from this remarkable book. ❤️
Reading her journey, one thing becomes abundantly clear: Indira Jaising is who she is because she never stopped pushing herself, never stopped asking difficult questions, and never settled for comfortable silence. That relentless conviction echoes through every chapter of her life. Whether it is the hawkers’ rights case, her fight for women facing domestic violence, the battle for equal inheritance rights, the Sabarimala verdict, or her unwavering faith in the Constitution as the bedrock of Indian democracy and the rule of law, her work is driven by an uncompromising sense of constitutional morality.
What struck me equally was her resistance to communal politics and her reflections on the importance of protest. Reading those pages inevitably brought me back to the present, to the protests against an education system that continues to fail young people, to the crushing reality of unemployment, and to an entire generation being forced to abandon dreams they worked tirelessly for.
She is who she is because she understands power. More importantly, she understands the institutions that exercise it. Whether it is the legislature, the executive, or the judiciary, nothing is beyond scrutiny. She insists that every institution must remain accountable, and that the judiciary, above all, cannot afford the luxury of silence. Her observation that, since 2014, only the NJAC judgment and the Electoral Bonds judgment truly reflected the judiciary standing up to the government was particularly thought-provoking.
You may agree or disagree with her political conclusions. But what is impossible to ignore is her unwavering commitment to the Constitution and her insistence that constitutional values must prevail over partisan interests. She reminds us that the Constitution is not merely a legal document, it is a promise, and it survives only when citizens and institutions have the courage to defend it.
That, for me, is the most enduring takeaway from this remarkable book. ❤️
September 3, 2026
Thoughtful
Excellent account on law and constitution. It is a must read for aspiring professionals. It is a moral compass to decide future course in the landscape of law and life.
Excellent account on law and constitution. It is a must read for aspiring professionals. It is a moral compass to decide future course in the landscape of law and life.
October 5, 2026
Interesting,
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews