Justice Hima Kohli Sworn In As First Woman Chief Justice Of Telangana HC

Justice Hima Kohli was sworn in as the first female Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court on Thursday. This pioneering achievement also makes her currently the only female on the Chief Justice seat across the 25 Indian High Courts. Governor of state Dr Tamilisai Sounderarajan administered the oath to Justice Kohli during a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan. The event was attended by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and other ministers.

The Union Ministry of Law and Justice had made a notification of Justice Kohli's appointment on December 31 last year, upon the recommendation of by the Supreme Court collegium. At the time, she was a judge at the Delhi High Court. She now succeeds former Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan, who has been transferred to the Jharkhand HC.

Watch the video of her swearing-in ceremony below:

Justice Hima Kohli sworn in as Chief Justice of Telangana High Court pic.twitter.com/AwkQOe8oOF

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) January 7, 2021

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About Justice Hima Kohli

Justice Hima Kohli is a graduate in law from Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi. In 1984, she got enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi. She was the Legal Advisor and Standing Counsel in the Delhi HC from 1999 to 2004. She took oath as a permanent judge in 2007. Alongside, she also became a Member of the General Council of the West Bengal National University of Judicial Sciences, Kolkata in 2017 and was appointed as the Chairperson of Committee of Delhi Judicial Academy in 2020.

It has been reported that Justice Kohli encourages mediation as a substitutive dispute resolution forum and has highlighted the role of the judiciary in ecology preservation. She is a strong advocate for environmental protection. Read more here. 

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Justice Kohli On Gender Neutral Law For Domestic Violence

In a webinar last year, Justice Kohli elaborated on her view over introducing a gender-neutral law for domestic violence in India. She said, “In our society, we haven’t reached the point where men have needed protection from women. If there comes a time that women have an upper hand, then we will come to amending the laws... However, there is no denying that the power structure is in favour of men.”

She also mentioned that the existing laws for women are adequate in providing protection to women and the root cause of the problem is the inability to implement these provisions properly.