“Language problem is the barrier for us”

“Language problem is the barrier for us“- This is the Interview of Judge Kamlesh Kumar Singh, who is presently Civil Judge (Junior Division), Gaya, Bihar. In this interview he discussed his hardships which he faced in his journey, how he overcome that and with his consistent efforts and smart work he not only cleared CLAT PG in 2018 with AIR 51 but also cleared Bihar Judiciary in 2019 (Prelims & Mains) and now he is serving the nation. He also shared important tips and techniques for budding lawyers and law aspirants who wish to excel in legal profession.

Sir, Please Introduce yourself

This is Kamlesh Kumar Singh; Basically, I belong to Saran district of Bihar, born in village Chappra. I did my matriculation, 10+2 and B.Sc. from my district and in 2015, I moved to Banaras and completed my LL.B from Banaras Hindu university and in 2018, I completed my UG then I appeared in CLAT PG and acquired AIR 51 and then took admission in NLSIU in 2019.  

I completed my LL.M and UGC NET which is required for Assistant professor in any university. So I qualified for both UGC net and GRE in 2018 December.

After doing my LL.M, I joined Presidency University in Bangalore and taught there for 6 months. Meanwhile I appeared in in Prelims and Mains of Bihar judiciary and I qualified for the same and I joined Bihar judiciary in the month of January 2020.

When did you decide that this is the goal you want to achieve and what or who gave you the inspiration for this?

Initially I wanted to be an assistant professor, since the first day I joined Banaras Hindu university. I wanted to be a professor but when i went to Bengaluru I personally felt that I should have gone for judiciary because in my state particularly Bihar as well as U.P also we see that the people who pursue their LL.B come into judiciary and they have different viewpoint with respect to judicial service in comparison to legal officers and private PSUs or companies. So I decided to come into Bihar judicial services as I belong to Bihar as I wanted to give service to my own people that is why while pursuing my LL.M I decided to become judicial officer then I appeared in that particular exam and I qualified for the same.

What are the difficulties that you have gone through your whole journey?

[from childhood till professional life]

Since childhood first and foremost what I want to share with you guys is where I belong to.  

I belong to Bihar and the language problem is the barrier for us and for me specially as I was unable to speak English properly because I belong to Hindi background and I did my 10+2 from Bihar board and no other boards so I faced this kind of problem when I was in my village.

I spent approx. 20 years in district Chappra; so in my village I had a different kind of scenario I had different kind of society there I could not get good environment there but when I entered in Banaras Hindu university, my life changed and I got good professors, good seniors and good friends there and then I thought basically that I might become a judge that’s why after coming in LLB I decided to come here. If I had been in my district then I could not be what I am today, I belong to lower middle class family so I had money issue as well and I faced this kind of thing then I started doing my LL.M and I had to pay 1.5 lacs fee and for that I still remember that my father took a loan for that and then I went to Bangalore while doing my LL.B I used to take very less money from my father because I knew that we had economic crisis so I had  economics problems, language problems and I didn’t have good society in my entire journey.

Has the law profession changed you as a person or does being a judge have any influence in your personal life?

Absolutely! when I started doing my LL.B, I got good subjects got good professors and good friends and one thing I would like to share with you – when I started reading subjects I went through the philosophies of many philosophers and I got new things how to survive in this world how to face troubles how to ignore them and if I truly share with you I went through number of philosophies like Thomas Hobbes, David Hume John Austin and I got many things after coming in LL.B like  IPC, law of torts so I came to know about the problems of the society and people generally face which kind of offensive which kind of wrong are going there in our society and how could we save our people from all those civil wrongs and criminal offences are coming in law  after going through the lectures of my professors I got many things I got new ideas after becoming judicial magistrate still I think that I could do something better for society because we know that in our society there is slow justice in the system or so younger generation like me invests in people so that we could do something for them and whenever any needy people come to the court they do not want to come before judicial magistrate who wants to come to the court and if they are coming, come here with the view to get justice. So here I think that after going through all these philosophies and all these ideologies are reading all these books still I think that I could do something better I can deliver justice in proper manner without affecting others

How do you balance your duties at home that is personal and he duties at the courtroom that is your professional life?

See that when we become professional when we come in any profession it is a very big issue for us. How can we manage all these things like I have many juniors I have students also I have friends also I have my family also whenever I’m going to court I have good function pressure wherever I do anything I totally concentrate on that particular thing at that point of time so whenever I go to court I sit in court I focus upon the things I have to do there but when I come at home I spend some time with my friends with juniors seniors and needy people and I use to help needy people and somehow I try to manage when I’m doing one thing I totally focus in that particular thing I should not distract towards other things so this way I mange professional and personal life

There are many budding law students and aspirants who are willing to prepare to judiciary after their graduation how must they prepare for judiciary exam like what are the key steps for that?

If I speak true I say that during your LL.B, bare acts of codified laws, bare act of Indian contract act, family laws, all those laws which have been qualified, students must go through their provisions after going through their provisions they must build a good concept on particular topic they must go through authentic books and they must attend the lecture of professors. During LL.B what you have to do is; you have to through bare acts provisions you have to build your concept you face any kind of problems then you must consult with your professors or your seniors if you have good friends you should also take help from them. Once you have completed your B.A LL.B after that you can take help of judicial guide like Ashok Kumar Jain of Asian publication you will get how he has managed to write an answer.

What would you like to tell the people who aspire to become a legal professional like be it anything legal officer judiciary magistrate or anything in legal professional what are your opinions?

 If you like to do something good legal profession like to build your name in legal profession first you have to be good in your concept like if you are doing practice in court, civil area in service matter, in taxation, then you must have good command over subject you must have good case laws with you. You have to read case laws read AIR (All India Reporter) when you get time and you must go through judgement read the rationality reason behind judgement of the justice and you must know the bare provisions like I used to say to each and every student you comes to me to ask any kind of legal profession how they can do better in any kind of legal profession I used to say you must go through bare provisions first.

Protection and labour laws, if you have law of torts then you must go through number of cases we have ample cases in law Indian cases so we can build up our concept after building our case laws so if you want to do something good in legal profession you must be ready and you must have good concept bare provisions and case laws if you know the bare provisions and if you know the case laws and if you have the good concepts in the subject you are doing practice then no one can stop you. You can achieve whatever you want so you need all these things bare provisions concepts and case laws

Can you tell us about what you think about LL.B Mania

I’m happy that you are sharing my experiences which I faced during my journey and this is a very good initiative like you are getting the experiences and asking the experiences who has achieved through his or her life. It could be beneficial for others who are doing LL.B or preparing right now and it is a very good platform which would provide new students with the necessary information so I’m very happy about this initiative.