Sunita Agarwal Age, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sunita Agarwal

• Sunita Agarwal is an Indian jurist who serves as a judge at the Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh. Justice Agarwal attracted considerable public scrutiny after the Zhenhua data leak in 2020, which exposed her as one of the 30 Indian judges who had been extensively monitored by a Chinese data analytics company. In July 2023, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended her as the Chief Justice of Gujarat. If approved by the central government, she would become the second woman to hold this position, following Sonia Gokani.

• Sunita Agarwal commenced her legal career on the civil side at the Allahabad High Court in 1990. Eventually, on 21 November 2011, she was appointed as an additional judge at the Allahabad High Court.

• Later, on 6 August 2013, Sunita Agarwal was promoted to the position of a permanent judge at the same court.

• In 2018, she was selected alongside another judge, Naheed Ara Moonis, to form a committee responsible for addressing complaints related to sexual harassment at the Allahabad High Court, in compliance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act of 2013.

• As a judge, Sunita Agarwal has played a significant role in shaping Indian constitutional law.
  

  Justice Sunita Agarwal addressing a mediation workshop for family court judges in Prayagraj

• In May 2020, she, along with two colleagues, set a precedent stating that the High Court of Allahabad could handle cases involving individuals residing outside their jurisdiction, provided that the issue in question occurred within their jurisdiction. This ruling established the principle that a person’s place of residence should not solely determine the High Court’s jurisdiction.

• In March 2020, Sunita Agarwal served as one of the judges on a five-member bench of the Allahabad High Court. This bench established a principle allowing individuals seeking anticipatory bail to directly approach the High Court under specific circumstances considered “special,” without the requirement of going through regular criminal courts.

• In June 2020, Justice Agarwal, along with another judge, made a decision to release individuals who had been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police for violating lockdown rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. These individuals had been detained while distributing food to those affected by the lockdown. Rather than keeping them in custody, Justice Agarwal instructed the police to focus on educating people about the lockdown rules.

• In September 2020, it was revealed that Sunita Agarwal, along with 29 other judges, as well as various political figures, CEOs, and athletes from India, were subject to surveillance by Zhenhua Data, a data analytics company based in Shenzhen, China. The Zhenhua data leak received extensive media coverage, with speculations regarding the company’s ties to the Chinese government, particularly in the context of the 2020 tensions between China and India.

• In February 2021, Justice Agarwal, presiding as the sole judge, emphasized that discrimination based on sexual orientation, labeled as “engaging in inappropriate behavior,” contradicted the significant 2018 Supreme Court ruling that decriminalized homosexuality and upheld the rights of the LGBT community. In light of this, she instructed the Home Guard Quarters in Uttar Pradesh to reinstate a staff member who had been dismissed due to a video disclosing his sexual orientation.

• On 5 July 2023, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended Sunita Agarwal as the candidate for the position of Chief Justice of Gujarat. If approved by the central government, she would become the second woman to hold this esteemed position, following Sonia Gokani.

• Sunita is expected to retire from her services on April 29, 2028.