https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Kapila_HingoraniKapila Hingorani - Revision history2026-10-30T20:32:04ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kapila_Hingorani&diff=508410&oldid=prevLukasBeg27134: new stub2026-02-07T23:24:46Z<p>new stub</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Use British English|date=March 2020}}<br />
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{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Kapila Hingorani<br />
| image = <br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = 27 December 1927<br />
| birth_place = [[Nairobi]], [[Kenya]]<br />
| death_date = 31 December 2013<br />
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], [[India]]<br />
| death_cause = <br />
| other_names = <br />
| occupation = [[lawyer]]<br />
| years_active = <br />
| known_for = [[Prison reform]] <br />
| notable_works = <br />
| spouse = <br />
| children = 3<br />
<br />
}}<br />
'''Pushpa Kapila Hingorani''' was an Indian lawyer who is regarded as "Mother of Public Interest Litigation" ([[Public interest litigation in India|PIL]]).<br />
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As per then prevailing laws, a petition could be filed only by a victim or a relative. Kapila and her husband Nirmal Hingorani wanted to represent the undertrial prisoners in [[Bihar]]. The couple acting on a novel idea, filed a [[habeas corpus]] petition on the prisoners’ behalf before the [[Supreme Court of India]]. Two weeks after Kapila argued the case in court, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Bihar government, which led to the release of all the victims in the case, and eventually about 40,000 undertrials across the country. The landmark case came to be known as the ''Hussainara Khatoon case 1979''.<ref name=case>{{cite web|title=Hussainara Khatoon & Ors vs Home Secretary, State Of Bihar|url=http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1373215/|website=indiankanoon.org|publisher=Supreme Court of India|accessdate=12 January 2015}}</ref> Hussainara was one of the six women prisoners. This earned her the title the "Mother of PILs".<ref name=IE>{{cite web|last1=Sinha|first1=Nidhi|title=In Public Interest|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/in-public-interest/|publisher=[[Indian Express]]|accessdate=12 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The spark that lit the PIL fire|url=http://www.tehelka.com/the-spark-that-lit-the-pil-fire/|archive-date=14 May 2014|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514175546/http://www.tehelka.com/the-spark-that-lit-the-pil-fire/|url-status=dead}}</ref> This case gave rise to a revolution in the Indian legal system.<ref>{{cite web|title=Finding the Roots of India's PIL Revolution|url=http://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/PDF/RootsOfPIL.pdf}}</ref> She also revealed the [[1980 Bhagalpur blindings|Bhagalpur Blindings]], resulting in the Supreme Court directing that the policemen who tortured 33 criminals be prosecuted and the victims released with medical aid and pension for life. She is the first Indian woman to have studied at [[Cardiff Law School]]. A plaque has been erected in her honour at [[Aberdare Hall]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Pioneer in law returns to Cardiff|url=http://www.law.cf.ac.uk/alumni/newsletter/2005/sep/sept5b.html|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-date=12 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112123934/http://www.law.cf.ac.uk/alumni/newsletter/2005/sep/sept5b.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><br />
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Kapila also undertook the petition where police had blinded 33 suspected criminals using needles and acid, after a lawyer from Bihar wrote to her about the atrocities. Eventually, the Supreme Court ordered medical aid, compensation and pension for life to all the victims.<ref name=IE /><br />
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Kapila died on 31 December 2013 at the age of 86.<ref>{{cite news|title='Mother of PIL' Kapila Hingorani dies at the age of 86|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mother-of-PIL-Kapila-Hingorani-dies-at-the-age-of-86/articleshow/28252671.cms|accessdate=2 January 2014|newspaper=Times of India|date=2 January 2014}}</ref><br />
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In 2017, she became the first female lawyer with a portrait in India's Supreme Court library.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oddnaari.in/news/story/kapila-hingorani-first-woman-in-supreme-court-library-portrait-chief-justic-deepak-misra-mahatma-gandhi-kenya-126836-2017-12-06|title=Did you know that the first woman lawyer to have her portrait in SC library abolished devdasi system in Kerala?|publisher=}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
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[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]<br />
[[Category:2013 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Indian civil rights activists]]<br />
[[Category:1927 births]]</div>LukasBeg27134