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Sarah Sunny is an Indian lawyer. She is the first deaf advocate to present a case in the Supreme Court of India
Wiki/Biography
Sarah Sunny Parambett was born in 1998 (age 25 years; as of 2023). She started her schooling at Cluny Convent High School, Bangalore, Karnataka; she attended the school from 2002 to 2012. She then attended the St.Claret Pre-University College in Bengaluru from 2012 to 2014. There she studied Economics, Accounting, Business, and Computers. In 2017, she received her Bachelor of Commerce degree at the Jyoti Nivas College Autonomous, Bengaluru. Sarah Sunny attended the St. Joseph’s College of Law, Bangalore, from 2017-21. There, she received her Bachelor of Laws as a part of the law school’s first batch. In 2018, Sarah interned with the Indian Red Cross Society in Bengaluru for one month. In 2019, Sarah interned at Everstone Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore for two months. She interned with Kochhar & Co. Bengaluru, for two months in 2020. She then interned under Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan in Bengaluru for, one month in 2021. In 2021, she also interned with the Centre for Law and Policy Research in Bengaluru for three months.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 4″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Sarah Sunny’s father’s name is Sunny, a chartered accountant from Kottayam, Kerala. Her mother’s name is Betty. Sarah has a twin sister named Maria who works as a chartered accountant for a French audit firm. The twins have a brother named Pratik who is eight years older than them and works at an IT firm in Texas.
Advocate Sarah Sunny with her parents, twin sister, and brother
Career
Law
Sarah Sunny received her Law degree in 2021 after which she enrolled in the Karnataka Bar Council to become an advocate.
Sarah Sunny in front of the Karnataka State Bar Council after enrolling as an advocate
After making an enquiry in Access Mantra in Delhi, she realised that she was the first deaf advocate in India. Sarah Sunny worked as an Associate lawyer in “thiru & thiru” (previously known as Thiru & Co.), which is a law firm in Bangalore. She worked at the firm from February 2022 to August 2023. SShe also works for the Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR), a not-for-profit trust, through which she gets to practice Constitutional and Disability Law. Colin Gonsalves, a Supreme Court advocate who founded the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), got Sarah Sunny to be a part of the non-profit organisation (HRLN) in New Delhi.
Rights Of Persons With Disability
On 22 September 2023, Sarah Sunny became the first deaf advocate to argue in the Supreme Court of India. Sarah Sunny participated in the proceedings headed by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud. Advocate-on-Record, Sanchita Ain made a request to the Chief Justice of India to allow Sarah Sunny to argue, which the Chief Justice allowed. Sarah Sunny caught up with the proceedings and defended her client with the help of the interpreter Saurav Roy Chowdhury. Saurav signed the proceedings to her and then interpreted Sarah’s sign language to the Court.
A screenshot of the virtual proceedings where interpreter Saurav Roy Chowdhury (top right) is signing for Sarah Sunny
The case was related to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The proceedings were conducted virtually, and in the beginning, the moderator only allowed the interpreter Saurav Roy Chowdhury to be given screen time. Justice Chandrachud then ordered both Sarah and Saurav to be given screen time. In an interview, Sarah Sunny said,
It was a dream come true experience for me. I had a great desire to appear for a case in the highest court of the judiciary of our country, which I never expected so soon and that, too, accomplished in the presence of the Honourable Chief Justice of India. This gives me more confidence and guts. I want to be a role model for others who are specially-abled.”
Achievement
Sarah Sunny was invited to be a part of the Access Mantra’s Deaf Woman Achievers Programme. She was one of the three people invited from India.
Facts/Trivia
- Sarah Sunny’s mother Betty taught her how to dance from the age of three.
- Sarah Sunny and her sister Maria have won awards for painting, craftwork, and badminton.
- Sarah Sunny gave a talk about “Deaf Empowerment” on a webinar hosted by SignAble.
A poster for a webinar on deaf empowerment featuring Sarah Sunny