Full court farewell: CJ Sonia Gokani lists challenges of a woman lawyer as colleagues laud her work

“When I entered the profession, there were 2-3 women advocates in mofussil town. As a young female lawyer, acclimatisation is quite a task, more so in the year 1985-’86. However, those challenges shaped the journey,” said CJ Gokani.

The CJ Gokani also expressed her gratitude to former HC judge and now sitting SC judge Justice Bela Trivedi for her years of friendship, starting from Ahmedabad city civil court.

In his address, Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHAA) president Prithvirajsinh Jadeja said that in her short tenure, CJ Gokani approved creche facilities on HC premises and also ensured installation of sanitary pad vending machines and incinerators.

Gokani in her farewell speech said, “My concern for families of jail inmates deepened while working at the Sabarmati Central jail for four years. They are people who are victims, who suffer for no fault of theirs.” Incidentally, on Friday, CJ Gokani punished two contemnors to pay cumulatively Rs 2 lakh, which would be deposited in the welfare fund of family of prisoners.

Acting Chief Justice of Gujarat HC, AJ Desai, who takes charge as CJ on February 26, also added that initiatives taken by Gokani who was nominated as the executive chairperson of the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority on July 11, 2022, included establishing a psychosocial care centre for inmates at the Sabarmati Central Jail.

Justice Desai also added that after Justice Gokani was appointed as chairperson of HC Legal Services Committee in October 2021, she had undertaken the revamping of the panel of advocates of the committee “by giving equal representation to lady advocates”.

Advocate General Kamal Trivedi also complimented CJ Gokani for her order on a PIL on February 22 suggesting that the state consider a statute for mandatory teaching of Gujarati language in schools. Trivedi said, “The recent order in teaching of Gujarati language compulsorily in schools… has motivated the state to propose enactment of a law in this regard.”

He also highlighted the order by the CJ’s bench on February 22, directing for doubling the compensation to the victims of Morbi suspension bridge collapse incident in October last year.

On her penultimate working day, CJ Gokani conducted matters in the first half of the court sitting, conducting a single bench, followed by six two-judge division bench sittings with Justices Sandeep Bhatt, NV Anjaria, Rajendra Sareen, Hemant Prachchhak, Mauna Bhatt, and Nisha Thakore, passing final orders or judgments in several matters.

Gokani started her practice as a lawyer in 1986 at Jamnagar district court in the chambers of Hasmukh Odhavji Bhatt, former district government pleader at the Jamnagar district court. After joining the judicial services in 1995, Gokani served as the special judge of TADA court and was also the first to be appointed as a POTA court judge in Gujarat in 2003, hearing the 2002 Sabarmati train burning case.

In 2007, as a TADA court judge, Gokani sentenced seven accused to life imprisonment for the murder of former Congress (I) Rajya Sabha MP Rauf Valiullah in 1992. The conviction was subsequently upheld by the SC.

As a POTA judge, Gokani also presided over cases like the Akshardham terrorist attack case, where she awarded capital punishment to the accused, and the BJP ex-home minister Haren Pandya murder case, convicting 12 for murder and conspiracy while sentencing nine of them to life imprisonment until death.