Justice Mohana 12th woman to be sworn in as SC judge

NEW DELHI: When 60-year-old Venkata Subramani Mohana took oath on Tuesday as a judge of the Supreme Court, she became part of a small group of 12 women judges among a total of 289 who have been judges of the SC in its over 76-year journey. Justice Mohana is the second advocate to be elevated as a judge of the SC after Justice Indu Malhotra.

SC had all-male judges till Oct 6, 1989, when Justice Fathima Beevi became the first woman judge of the apex court during the tenure of CJI E S Venkataramiah, whose daughter Justice B V Nagarathna is set to become the first woman CJI next year.

The second woman judge in the SC was Justice Sujata Manohar, who took oath as SC judge on Nov 8, 1994, during the tenure of CJI A M Ahmadi and retired on Aug 27, 1999.

Since 2000, there have been 10 more woman judges. First among them was Justice Ruma Pal, who was elevated as SC judge on Jan 28, 2000 and missed being the first woman CJI by a whisker to retire as the most senior judge in June 2006. It took the collegium more than a decade to recommend the appointment of another woman Supreme Court judge in Justice Gyan Sudha Misra, who took oath on Apr 30, 2010 during the tenure of CJI K G Balakrishnan.

CJI N V Ramana's tenure created a record. Three women judges - Justices Hima Kohli, Bela M Trivedi and B V Nagarathna - took oath on the same day, Aug 31, 2021, a record that is not going to be broken in the near future.