“Staying Focused, continuous hard work and learning from my own mistakes are the secrets of my success.” -Rehan Raza
“Pratiyogita Darpan” arranged an exclusive interview with Shri Rehan Raja who has been selected in Bihar Judicial Services Examination-2017. He deserves high appreciation and our heartiest congratula-tions on his this glorious success. This important, thought-provoking and highly inspiring interview is being presented here in its original form.
PD—Achieving top slot in the Judicial Services Examination is no small feat; accept our heartiest congratulations on your splendid success.
Shri Rehan—Thanks a lot.
PD—Can you recall the exact moment when you realized the importance of Judicial Services ?
Shri Rehan—It relates back to my L-L.B. days when our faculty of law organised several programmes and most of time judges were invited as guests in such programmes; meeting them I was highly impressed, specially with the respect, royalty, social recognition and charm of judicial officers.
PD—Finally, at what point of time did you make up your mind to make career in ‘Judicial Services’ ?
Shri Rehan—In my L-L.B. days I came to know about the powers and respect of judges and also I got chance to meet several judges. I was highly impressed with judicial services and that time I decided to opt this service as my career. In our Indian society judges are respected and treated like shadow of God.
PD—You must have read toppers’ interviews in newspapers/ magazines; what inspired you the most ?
Shri Rehan—In my struggle days, I used to go through the interviews of toppers. Stories of toppers always motivated me towards my ultimate ambition to become a judicial officer. I took the interviews of toppers as a source of inspiration and I tried to grasp tips for myself from such interviews.
PD—Was JSE your planned decision or your parents’ wish ? Did you keep in mind some time-frame, for the examination preparation and number of attempts ?
Shri Rehan—Undoubtedly the JSE was my planned decision as well as it was the wish of my parents. In fact, my late mother was very eager to see me as a judge but it was very unfortunate that she passed away before I became a judge. The eagerness of my father and my late mother also consistently gave me inspiration and motivation. So far as time-frame is concerned I didn’t follow any strict time-frame but always I have been dedicated, desperate, consistent and honest with my studies.
PD—What was your first step when you were really serious about making a career in Judicial Services ?
Shri Rehan—I started to plan a strategy to crack the nut of judicial services exam. I diverted my focus on better understanding of law instead of just passing law exams. Concentrated my mind on this aim only and not even think of any other job.
PD—Were you confident of your success in this examination and how did you react to this news of your success ?
Shri Rehan—Yes, I was confident of my success. My success is the result of my devotion and blessings of my late beloved mother. When I heard the news of my success first of all I thanked Almighty. Immediately, I informed my father, brothers, sister and uncles. At that point of time I missed my mother a lot.
PD—In how many attempts have you achieved this success ? How do you visualize your preparation/ previous attempts ?
Shri Rehan—I attempted a number of times, faced failure several times but instead of getting discouraged every time, I took my failure as a part of my success. From every failure I took a lesson, realised my mistakes and deficiencies and proceeded further.
PD—Were you preparing for other career opportunities as well while preparing for your ultimate goal i.e., Career in Judicial Services ?
Shri Rehan—No, during my preparation for judicial services exam, I had not even thought about any other career option. JSE was my only and ultimate goal.
PD—While the changing economic environment offers immense lucrative career opportunities in various sectors, still what kept you motivated towards Judicial Services ?
Shri Rehan—As I said, JSE was my only and ultimate goal. I had not even thought about any other career option. By blessings of Almighty I am from a economically sound family; so lucrative opportunity couldn’t lure me. My passion towards my ambition was very high.
| Bio-data |
| Name—Rehan Raza
Father’s Name—Shri Shahzad Hussain Mother’s Name—Mrs. Qamar Zehra Educational Qualifications— 10th—2002 CBSE, DAV College (53%) L-L.B.—2009 Aligarh Muslim University Faculty of Law (61%) L-L.M.—2012, Kurukshetra University, Faculty of Law (52%) |
PD—What’s important that needs attention and what’s not ? Share your thoughts and opinions ?
Shri Rehan—JSE is conducted at state level. First of all select the state and focus on the pattern followed in that particular state. Make strategy and follow it without any distraction or diversion. Be honest with studies and have patience. Don’t get discouraged on failures until you succeed.
PD—’Time Management’ is a key factor how did you manage things ?
Shri Rehan—Time management is the key factor behind every strategy, judicial services is not an exception to this. Proper planning of judicial services examination devoid of time management is not possible. Either it be a preliminary exam or mains exam, more and more practice is essential to overcome the challenge of time management.
PD—Was Judicial Services Examinations a planned thing for you ? Had you thought of some time frame for this examination ?
Shri Rehan—Yes, JSE was my pre planned target. I didn’t think about any time frame to crack it.
PD—List some of the Magazines, Newspapers, Books etc. which you read for ‘General Studies’ preparation.
Shri Rehan—For GS preparation I have read PD since my L-L.B. days as it covers almost all sections like national and international current issues, defence, communication, space, science & tech, legal updates etc. Some special issues of PD like on geography and history are more fruitful. I have also consulted ‘Judgement and Law Today’ magazine for recent case laws, ‘News and Event’ magazine for current affairs and lastly I would like to say that strategy & syllabus for JSE is incomplete without having habit of daily reading of ‘The Hindu’ newspaper.
PD—How did you prepare yourself for Interview ?
Shri Rehan—During my interview, I had revised my entire syllabus, got acquainted with all the then national and international current issues, specially legal issues. I faced some mock interviews. In BPSC, I had faced the Board of Hon’ble Justice Ravi Ranjan, Judge Patna High Court. It ran around 20 minutes. It took about 25 minutes. Questions in the interviews I faced are as follows :
l Difference between Law and Morality, their relevancy.
l Today’s relevancy of Bentham’s theory of utility.
l Difference between Constitution and Constitutionalism.
l My experience as penal advocate in DLSA.
l Judicial Activism, Judicial Positivism, Judicial Overreach.
l Theory of Basic Structure.
l Effects of conversion in Hindu Law and Muslim Law.
l Requirement and relevancy of traditions in Hindu marriage.
l About Democratic setup of our nation, role of judiciary in present democracy and possible reforms.
l Some questions from Domestic Violence Act 2005.
| Personal Qualities |
| Strong Point—Man of patience, dedicated, hard worker, and analytical approach.
Weak Point—I am a man of reserve nature and talk least. Hobbies—Swimming and Driving. |
PD—What is the importance of medium of examination for exams like JSE ?
Shri Rehan—In JSE generally we have two options either Hindi or English, though my medium of examination was English but no language has edge over another. One can choose either one. Language should be one in which we can effectively express ourselves.
PD—Does the educational, financial and demographic status of the family of an aspirant have any impact on the preparation ?
Shri Rehan—Yes, during preparation an aspirant needs a lot of moral and financial support and for this purpose the educational, financial and demographic values of family matter.
PD—Pratiyogita Darpan, the largest read Career & Competition magazine has been the top choice of aspirants; what is your opinion about it ?
Shri Rehan—Partiyogita Darpan provides very supportive study material for Judicial and Civil Services aspirants. To some extent its material resolves the burden of aspirants to prepare notes. Compiled study material of PD is of very high quality.
PD—What is the secret of your success ?
Shri Rehan—Hard work, patience, dedication, consistency and honesty towards work are the secrets of every successful person including me.
PD—To whom would you like to give the credit for your success ?
Shri Rehan—First of all my credit goes to Almighty and then to my parents who always supported and encouraged me in all aspects of my life including my career. My today’s status is the result of blessings of my parents and cooperation of my whole family.
PD—Any suggestion/advice you would like to give to the future aspirants.
Shri Rehan—To future aspirants, I would like to say that failure will never overtake you if your determination to succeed is strong enough. Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.
PD—Thank you very much and wishing you all the best for your future endeavours.
Leave a Reply