Justice Fathima Beevi, India¡¯s First Female Supreme Court Judge, Passes Away
Born in the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala, Justice Fathima Beevi made history in 1989 when she was appointed the first female judge of the Supreme Court of India. She was also the first Muslim woman to be assigned to any of the higher judiciaries in the country. She retired from the apex court in 1992.
Justice Fathima Beevi, the first woman to be appointed as judge of the Supreme Court of India, has passed away. She was 96.
Born in the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala, Justice Fathima Beevi made history in 1989 when she was appointed the first female judge of the Supreme Court of India.
BCCL/FILE
Who was Justice Fathima Beevi?
She was also the first Muslim woman to be appointed to any of the higher judiciaries in the country. She retired from the apex court in 1992.
After she retired from judicial service, she was appointed the Governor of Tamil Nadu in 1997, making her the first Muslim woman to hold the post. She served in the position till 2001.
A B.Sc and law graduate, Justice Beevi enrolled as an Advocate in 1950.
She started her judicial career as the Munsiff in the Kerala Subordinate Judicial Services.
She became a High Court Judge in 1983 and a Supreme Court Judge in 1989.
PIB
How Justice Fathima Beevi became a pioneer
As a Supreme Court judge, she became the first Muslim woman in the higher judiciary and the first woman to become a Supreme Court Justice in an Asian country.
She also served as the Chairman of the Kerala Commission for Backward Classes. She was a member of the National Human Rights Commission before being appointed as the Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Her career as Tamil Nadu Governor
As the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Justice Beevi had rejected the mercy petitions filed by the death-row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
She resigned from the post in 2001 following her controversial decision to invite Jayalalitha to form the government.
Justice Beevi submitted her resignation after the Union Cabinet recommended that the President recall the Governor for failing to discharge her constitutional obligation.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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