Over the last couple of months, I have visited the District Courts several times. Each time I leave, I always have something to think about on my journey back to the office- whether it is how amazed I am at the knowledge some of the lawyers there possess, or how I have hardly seen any women lawyer, or how the District Court always faintly smells of pee.

On my last visit there however, two very different instances both tied in with each other and have left me very disturbed. I have not been able to get these images out of my head. An elderly gentleman unable to reconcile himself with the ethics of several Judges in our judiciary. The calm arguments as to the reason why a five year old child was murdered by his own parents along with a couple of anecdotes thrown in by the public prosecutor- because he did not think it inappropriate.

You look at these instances, first as an outsider and then as a lawyer, and then ask yourself why this is the state of the legal system in India, and secondly, why one would ever voluntarily take pride in the profession once you have seen it rear its ugly head.