'Women Contributed To Drafting Constitution' : CJI DY Chandrachud Explains Why He Wrote 'Founding Fathers & Mothers Of Constitution'

During the hearing of the dispute between the Delhi Government and the Centre over the control of civil services, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud explained why he chose to use the expression "founding fathers and mothers of the Constitution" in the 2018 Constitution Bench judgment in Govt of NCT of Delhi v Union of India.

CJI said that he used this line so that the women who contributed in drafting the Constitution are given the due recognition.

CJI said this while Senior Advocate Dr.Abhishek Manu Singhvi was quoting from the 2018 judgment. Referring to the expression "founding mothers", Singhvi said, "this I have not read anywhere else".

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said that this expression was used for the first time in the judgment.

"The reason why I used the word "mothers" is that, otherwise the role which was played by many of the women members of the Constituent Assembly would not have been adequately recognised. There were women like Dakshayani Velayudhan...there were outstanding individuals of those days. These women really contributed to the drafting of the Constitution".

"Yes there were many women. And many of them had eminent husbands too. But they had their complete own identity in their own right. Durgabhai Deshmukh is an example. There are so many more women. They fought for causes, so times not in consonance with not their equally eminent husband were standing for. Therefore, they found a place in the Assembly", Singhvi replied. He also said that most countries used the expression "motherland", barring few exceptions like Germany which use "fatherland".

The series published by LiveLaw on Women in Constituent Assembly can be read here.