The TIME magazine in its list of 100 most influential people of 2019 has included two Indian women lawyers — Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju — who spearheaded the legal challenge to strike down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
The list also includes Reliance Industries Chairman MukeshAmbani.
Katju and Guruswamy represented the petitioners against theban on consensual gay sex in the country. The duo highlighted those whosuffered under the law by enlisting more than two dozen gay, lesbian, bisexualand transgender people as co-petitioners.
They contested that people risked arrest for publiclyidentifying themselves as part of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender, queer) community.
Katju is the niece of former Supreme Court judge MarkandeyKatju. She was also a junior under senior advocate Sidharth Luthra in theSupreme Court.
Guruswamy is the daughter of Mohan Guruswamy, a well-knownpolitical-thinker and adviser to former Prime Minister late Atal BihariVajpayee.
US President Donald Trump, China President Xi Jinping,Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pope Francis, golfer Tiger Woods andFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are among the prominent names to have featuredin the TIME’s list.
Noted actor Priyanka Chopra wrote a profile for Katju andGuruswamy in TIME magazine after it released the influential people’s list onWednesday.
“Arundhati and Menaka have helped take a giant step forLGBTQ+ rights in the world’s largest democracy. In their committed fight forjustice, they have shown us that we as a society must continue to make progress,even after laws are changed, and that we must make an effort to understand,accept and love,” Chopra wrote.