Bhubaneswar: Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and other Supreme Court judges in the judges’ lounge have recently praised Odisha girl Pragya Samal, a law researcher for receiving admission offers for LLM programmes from six Western universities.
Hailing from Jajpur district, Pragya is the daughter of Ajay Kumar Samal, a Supreme Court attendant and a cook at the official residence of one of the judges.
Pragya (26) has received admission offers for LLM programmes from six western universities – Columbia Law School, Chicago Law School, New York University, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, University of California Berkeley School of Law and the University of Michigan Law School. That apart, she has secured scholarships from Berkeley and Michigan law schools.
Pragya’s happiness knew no bounds when Justice Chandrachud presented her with three books on the Indian Constitution signed by all the apex court judges.
The Chief Justice also offered shawls to Pragya’s parents as a token of appreciation.
“We know Pragya has managed something on her own, but we will ensure she manages to get whatever is required… We expect that she should come back to serve the country,” Justice Chandrachud quoted saying after the felicitation.
He added, “Whatever she does, she will achieve excellence and she will carry the dreams of 1.4 billion people on her shoulders very easily”.
After her graduation in law from AMITY University in 2021, Pragya worked as a judicial clerk with an SC judge, since retired, and joined Centre for Research and Planning (CRP) in February 2023.
She attributed her success to her father, who had joined the court in 1996. “I am privileged to be his child. He always supported me whichever way he could,” she was quoted saying after the felicitation ceremony.
