Lawyers should keep themselves healthy, says Supreme Court judge

Lawyers should keep themselves healthy and stress free to ensure they can address the problems that people bring to them, Justice Ajay Rastogi advised the legal fraternity on Tuesday.

Justice Rastogi said lawyers should keep their stress levels at check and leave behind the workplace tension.

"Being a lawyer for 21 years, my request is only one. Keep your stress levels low. Whatever happens with your clients or in the courtroom, please leave it aside once you come outside," said Justice Shah while speaking at a seminar on 'Knowing Hepatitis- Medico Legally' organised here by the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association.

He said that people come to lawyers with their problems which is why a lawyer should keep himself healthy.

"As lawyers, the first and foremost thing is to keep ourselves healthy. You borrow problems of the people. People come to you with certain difficulties which you borrow. Therefore, as a lawyer, keep yourself healthy," said Justice Shah.

The seminar which was organised to empathise with people of the stigma and discrimination faced by patients suffering from Hepatitis and to spread awareness on detection and cure of the disease.

The seminar which was organised in association with The Empathy Campaign, by the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), also had Justice M R Shah and Dr Shiv Kumar Sarin, Head of Department of Hepatology, ILBS, as speakers.

Justice Shah spoke on how the apex court has time and again intervened and protected the rights of people suffering from serious illness such as HIV, to get employment and education.

"The Supreme Court has stated that even if he is suffering from HIV but is in a position to work then nobody can deny him the job. So far education is concerned, a child who's suffering from HIV should be considered in a special category as an affected person and therefore under the Right to Education, special benefits are given to such a child," said Justice Shah.

Dr Sarin requested the judges that like in cases of HIV patients, the courts should also come to the rescue of patients suffering from Hepatitis, who are constantly put through social stigma and discrimination.