Dua Associates

Dua Associates is appearing for Goolrookh M. Gupta, a Parsi Zoroastrian lady, a Petitioner before the Hon’ble Supreme Court in a Special Leave Petition No. 18889/2012 titled Mrs. Goolrokh M. Gupta v. Mr. Sam Rusi Chothia & Ors. The Special Leave Petition has been filed against the judgment and order of the Hon’ble Gujarat High Court dated March 23, 2012 wherein the High Court held that a woman born as a Parsi  ( by race) and initiated into the Zoroastrian religion by her avid Zoroastrian parents, loses her Zoroastrian religion by virtue of her marriage to a non-Zoroastrian, Hindu male. This view was taken, notwithstanding that her marriage was solemnized under the liberal and secular Special Marriage Act of 1954, without her ever having renounced her Zoroastrian faith/religion.

 The matter relates to the constitutional protection accorded to all individuals under Article 21, 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India which has been whittled down and arbitrarily restricted by the Respondents Trustees by refusing to recognize Mrs. Goolrookh M. Gupta and other such women as Parsi Zoroastrian, and further preventing their right to follow their religious practices inter alia including performing the last rights of her parents. 

In the said Judgment, the Hon’ble High Court have inter alia held that upon her marriage, a woman is “deemed” and“presumed” to have acquired the religious status of her husband . Curiously, the High Court’s views are not restricted to Parsi women alone.

Ms Shiraz Patodia
Advocate & Solicitor
Senior Partner

As part of its CSR initiatives, Dua Associates provides financial assistance for education of girl children. The firm strongly believes that access to gender justice will enable creation of a just and equitable society and encourage Pro Bono legal services.

In 2016, the firm became a member of Trust Law pro bono programme of Thompson Reuters Foundation, UK (with assistance rendered by Mr Chandra Shekhar Mishra). Through Trust Law, the firm assisted Schoolgoers Pty Ltd, an Australian not-for-profit company in incorporating its Indian affiliate. The firm is currently advising (here too, with assistance provided by Mr Mishra) My Choices Foundation, an NGO working against domestic violence and sex trafficking.

Mr. Robin R. David is Partner on the civil litigation panel of iProbono the platform that connects civil society organizations to legal professionals. Mr. David has been a panel-lawyer of Delhi High Court Legal Aid Services Committee for the past nine years and the firm has rendered legal aid in about hundred matters of varied nature.

The firm has represented a Canadian couple before the Delhi High Court in a child adoption case where directions were issued to the Central and State adoption agencies to take steps to enable the couple to adopt a child after the death of both parents, who were rag pickers. In August 2017, the firm represented slum dwellers before the Delhi High Court against forcible eviction of slum residents in East Delhi for a highway project. The Delhi High Court directed Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to allot residential flats to fourteen families under the slum policy of Delhi. Mr. David is Amicus Curiae panel counsel for the Supreme Court of India. In March 2017, as amicus,
Mr. David appeared for one Shiv Kumar an octogenarian, who was awarded life imprisonment and was granted bail by the Supreme Court of India.   

Mr Robin David
Advocate
Partner