Nuns win battle to practice law

The high court in the southern Indian state of Kerala has upheld the right of nuns and priests in the state to practice law.

The court ruled that being a nun or a priest did not disqualify anyone from working as a lawyer.

The ruling follows an attempt by the Bar Council of India (BCI) to block two nuns and a priest from practicing law.

The BCI argued that since they were already engaged in a profession, they could not enrol as lawyers.

The court ruled that the two nuns, Sister Teresa and Sister Teena Jose, and the priest, Father Thomas Puthussery, could not be barred from being employed in government or quasi-government bodies because professing a religious vocation was not a bar to practising law.

The case has been the subject of legal argument since 2003 when the two nuns and a priest first approached the state bar council seeking enrolment.