Nirbhaya: Karuna Nundy, the lawyer who helped frame India's anti-rape bill

New Delhi, Mar 20: Karuna Nundy, an advocate at the Supreme Court of India, and international human rights lawyer, has been working to safeguard the rights of the people. She is one of the experts who helped in drafting the anti-rape law amendments post the Nirbhaya case.

Her report on anti-rape laws was crucial for the Amendment in Criminal law 2 Act in 2013 after the infamous Nirbhaya case of Delhi.

Karuna represents and acts as legal policy adviser to governments, United Nations, companies and civil society movements. Her pro bono practice includes also, the Supreme Court litigation from the 1984 gas disaster and toxic waste dumps in Bhopal.

She has argued cases involving the rights of alleged terrorists, mentally ill people and class actions on sexual harassment.

In India, she drafted contributions to the new "anti-rape" laws and the Right to Food Act.

Karuna has an Economics degree (St. Stephen's College, Delhi University), a law degree (University of Cambridge), and an LL.M. (Columbia Law School). She is qualified to practice in India and NY.

Hours before the execution of Nirbhaya convicts, the lawyer had tweeted:

I see people saying the death penalty is wrong and only the women are getting deluged with wishes that they'd be raped or killed. Men, check your violence, other men, check your privilege.

— Karuna Nundy (@karunanundy) March 19, 2020

The four men convicted of the gang rape and murder of a Delhi woman on December 16, 2012 were hanged in the darkness of pre-dawn on Friday, ending a horrific chapter in India's long history of sexual assault that had seared the nation's soul.

Karuna's advisory and policy work includes contributions to the Nepal Interim Constitution; a legislation workshop with the Senate of Pakistan; advice to the Government of Bhutan on compliance with human rights treaties; and legal reform in the Maldives with the Attorney General's Office and the Chief Justice of the Maldives Supreme Court.