Judge’s liability is only financial spend on daughter

V K Sharma, assistant registrar and PS to Supreme Court Judge Gyan Sudha Misra, has strongly reacted to a news report of December 29 in TOI, titled, “SC woman judge lists daughter as liabilities”, saying that the report has distorted information given on a printed proforma to claim the judge has listed her daughters as liabilities.

Sharma said in a letter that “anything which results in a cash outflow” was a liability and “any person including a judge would expect a reasonable cash outflow in the wedding of the children, including daughters”.

In this sense, said Sharma, “an education loan is financial liability but it cannot be construed that education itself is a liability.”

Sharma said, Justice Misra’s daughters are “the biggest assets to their parents”, although all provisions towards their material future expenses would come under liabilities. He added the judge has daughters but “if she had a son and made similar declarations, would gender discrimination and treating sons as a liability be fodder for discussion?” Sharma added that Justice Misra has been “well-acknowledged for her progressive views on women’s upliftment” and has “worked tirelessly” to fight atrocities on women.

Moreover, she has been the “first woman judge to address the International Women Judges Conference” in Canada. Sharma has also drawn attention to the adverse comments about the report on the Net.”