Ms. Shristi Borthakur is a lawyer practicing in New Delhi and works on disability rights. Shristi’s work is deeply influenced by personal experience, driving her to focus on disability rights, especially for persons with mental and development disabilities. She works closely with persons with disabilities, caregivers, educators, and special schools to access legal protections, such as appointment of a guardian, travel regulations, access to higher education, insurance, estate planning, and so on. Her long-term goal is to contribute to the development of disability rights jurisprudence in India, including legal reforms addressing transition to adulthood, guardianship, training modules for lawyers and judges, and policy integration.
She holds a BA LLB degree from Symbiosis Law School. She worked for five years at the office of senior advocate Ms Arundhati Katju and also independently argued cases. She has worked on diverse cases ranging from civil to commercial and criminal to constitutional before the Supreme Court. Notably, Shristi has worked on the landmark case of marriage equality before the Indian Supreme Court, an experience that shaped her commitment to constitutional and social justice.
As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Shristi is pursuing a Master of Laws degree to undertake a study on the equivalent disability laws and processes in the United States and test their applicability to the existing framework in India. She is focusing on public and social infrastructure that exists in the US, and its impact on people with disabilities. Shristi plans to continue to build her independent litigation practice in India.