TIME’s 100 Most Influential People: Priyanka Chopra writes a profile on lawyers Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

April 18, 2019 - 7:00 AM IST

TIME magazine, every year, releases a list of 100 most influential people across the globe. On Wednesday, they released its 2019 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World and two of most powerful women in India have been featured in the list. Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy and advocate Arundhati Katju have been mentioned in the list who led the battle in the Supreme Court to decriminalize homosexuality in India. And the profile has been written by none other than Priyanka Chopra.

TIME’s 100 Most Influential People: Priyanka Chopra writes a profile on lawyers Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy

Priyanka Chopra contributed to the Time Magazine piece on both the lawyers who led the battle to strike down Section 377 in a unanimous vote. In the beautiful profile, Priyanka wrote, "“I am what I am so take me as I am,” said the Chief Justice of India as the Supreme Court struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in a unanimous vote. An outdated legacy of the British colonization of India, Section 377 rendered all sexual activities “against the order of nature” punishable by law."

The actress further talked about how the two lawyers Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy fought this battle together. "This landmark judgment, overturning a 157-year-old law, was the outcome of a long-term campaign orchestrated by two amazing public-interest litigators, Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy. The fight has been hard. The LGBTQ+ community has battled on both legal and social fronts for decades-—for their fundamental rights, for privacy, for dignity, for safety and for love," she wrote.

She further added, "Armed with a well-planned strategy that went beyond their well-researched legal arguments, Arundhati and Menaka became beacons of hope for the Indian LGBTQ+ community. Their perseverance and commitment led an entire community to a historic win by humanizing their struggles and giving them the freedom to love. As the Chief Justice said, “Constitutional morality cannot be martyred at the altar of social morality.”

Arundhati and Menaka have helped take a giant step for LGBTQ+ rights in the world’s largest democracy. In their committed fight for justice, they have shown us that we as a society must continue to make progress, even after laws are changed, and that we must make an effort to understand, accept and love.

It is who we are as people."

This isn't the first time Priyanka Chopra has written a profile for someone. The last time TIME gave her an opportunity to write about Princess Of Sussex, Meghan Markle.

Singer Taylor Swift, Chrissy Teigen, Ariana Grande, Emilia Clarke, Lady Gaga, Brie Larson, Dwayne Johnson, Sandra Oh, Regina King ,KPOP global sensation BTS, Mahershala Ali, Yalitza Aparicio, Glenn Close, Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines, Spike Lee, Rami Malek, Ryan Murphy, Khalid, Gayle King, Richard Madden and Hasan Minhaj also received the recognition in TIME 100 list.