In A First, Woman Advocate Set To Become SC Judge

Senior Advocate Indu Malhotra is set to make history. She will be the first woman lawyer to be directly elevated from the Bar to the Supreme Court as a judge.

Malhotra's name was cleared unanimously by the Supreme Court Collegium which met on Wednesday (10 January).

The five-member Collegium, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, also recommended elevation of Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph to the Supreme Court.

If her appointment goes through, Malhotra will become the the seventh woman judge in the Supreme Court since it was established 67 years ago

Read Also: Get To Know Justice Fathima Beevi, India’s First Woman SC Judge

Know more about her:

• Born in 1956 in Bengaluru, her father Om Prakash Malhotra was a renowned advocate.
• Her brother and sisters are also lawyers.
• Malhotra is a postgraduate in Political Science and graduated in law from Delhi University.
• She joined the legal profession in 1983 and later secured first position in the Advocate-on-Record exam for the Supreme Court. It is considered to be a very difficult exam to crack for lawyers.
• She rose to fame in August 2007 when Supreme Court designated her as Senior Advocate. It was then that she became the second only woman to be elevated by the Supreme Court. The first was Leila Seth, mother of author Vikram Seth, in 1977.
• Malhotra is also a  trustee of the NGO Save Life Foundation, which moved the apex court for a law to protect good samaritans who help road accident victims.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising told The Hindu, “It’s a welcome move to recruit a woman directly from the Bar. There has to be more women judges at the Supreme Court.”