Passing of a heroine.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

India’s first woman High Court Chief Justice Leila Seth died of cardiac arrest on 6 May 2017, aged 86. She was also Delhi High Court’s first woman judge. She was also author Vikram Seth’s mother and was the model behind Lata Mehra, the heroine of Mr Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy.

The Delhi Walla would often spot her in the book launches but she curtailed her public appearances following a stroke in the latter part of 2016. Despite her increasingly frail health, Mrs Seth was seen at Aruna Chakravarti’s book launch in India International Center in November last year. It was to be her final public sighting (see last picture below).

In 2003, she published her autobiography On Balance.

Mrs Seth, who lived in neighboring Noida, is survived by her husband, two sons, a daughter and two granddaughters. She passed away in her home. She wanted her organs to be donated so her body was handed over to the army’s hospital.

Mrs Seth’s memories

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