Eleven women were appointed to the Supreme Court between 1989 and 2021: M. Fathima Beevi (1989), Sujata V. Manohar (1994), Ruma Pal (2000), Gyan Sudha Misra (2010), Ranjana Prakash Desai (2011), R. Banumathi (2014), Indu Malhotra (2018), Indira Banerjee (2018), Hima Kohli (2021), B.V. Nagarathna (2021) and Bela M. Trivedi (2021). In August 2021 three women took the oath together, and for a time four women sat on the Court at once, the most ever.
First: M. Fathima Beevi (1989).
First from the Bar: Indu Malhotra (2018).
Three women sworn in together in August 2021.
Quick check: Who was the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India?
Sujata Manohar
M. Fathima Beevi
Ruma Pal
Leila Seth
Answer: B.
1989
Justice M. Fathima Beevi
The first woman in the Supreme Court
Fathima Beevi, from Kerala, began her career as a munsiff and rose through the subordinate judiciary to the Kerala High Court. In 1989 she became the first woman judge of the Supreme Court. She later served on the NHRC and as Governor of Tamil Nadu (1997–2001). She was awarded the Padma Bhushan posthumously in 2024.
First woman SC judge (1989).
Governor of Tamil Nadu, 1997–2001.
Quick check: After retiring, Justice Fathima Beevi served as Governor of which state?
Kerala
Karnataka
Andhra Pradesh
Tamil Nadu
Answer: D.
Judges Appointed Directly from the Bar
Nine lawyers who skipped the High Court
Most Supreme Court judges are promoted from the High Courts, but Article 124(3) also allows the appointment of a distinguished jurist or an advocate of ten years' standing in a High Court. Those appointed directly from the Bar are S.M. Sikri (1964), Kuldip Singh (1988), N. Santosh Hegde (1999), Rohinton F. Nariman (2014), U.U. Lalit (2014), L. Nageswara Rao (2016), Indu Malhotra (2018), P.S. Narasimha (2021) and K.V. Viswanathan (2023). No "distinguished jurist" (an academic) has yet been appointed.
First: S.M. Sikri (1964).
First woman: Indu Malhotra (2018).
No academic jurist has been appointed under Article 124(3)(c).
Quick check: Who was the first woman to be appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court?
Meenakshi Arora
Ruma Pal
Indu Malhotra
Indira Jaising
Answer: C.
2018–2021
Justice Indu Malhotra
The Sabarimala dissent
The second woman designated a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court (after Leila Seth) and the first woman appointed directly from the Bar to the Court. In Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala (Sabarimala, 2018) she wrote the lone dissent, holding that courts should not apply rationality tests to deeply held religious practices.
Lone dissent in Sabarimala (2018).
Quick check: Who wrote the lone dissent in the Sabarimala judgment (2018)?
D.Y. Chandrachud
R.F. Nariman
A.M. Khanwilkar
Indu Malhotra
Answer: D.
1950–1954
Justice Saiyid Fazl Ali
The first great dissent
One of the six judges of the first Supreme Court. His dissent in A.K. Gopalan (1950), arguing that Articles 19 and 21 must be read together, was vindicated in R.C. Cooper (1970) and Maneka Gandhi (1978). He later chaired the States Reorganisation Commission (1953–55) and served as Governor of Odisha and Assam.
Dissent in A.K. Gopalan (1950).
Chaired the States Reorganisation Commission.
Quick check: Who chaired the States Reorganisation Commission (1953–55)?
S.K. Dar
H.N. Kunzru
Saiyid Fazl Ali
K.M. Panikkar
Answer: C.
46 more entries under this heading
Justice Vivian Bose · A liberal voice on the early Court
Justice H.R. Khanna · The dissent in ADM Jabalpur
Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer · The judge of the poor
Justice Kuldip Singh · The "Green Judge"
Justice K.S. Hegde · From the Bench to the Speaker's Chair
Justice A. Varadarajan · The first Dalit judge of the Supreme Court
Justice Baharul Islam · From Parliament to the Court and back
Justice J. Chelameswar · Dissent and a press conference
Justice Rohinton F. Nariman · A jurist on the Bench
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Social justice and the press conference
Justice Kurian Joseph · Triple talaq and the press conference
Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai · The go-to chair of commissions
Justice Ruma Pal · The "seven sins" of the judiciary
Justice R. Banumathi · From Tamil Nadu to the top court
Justice Hima Kohli · The first woman Chief Justice of Telangana
Justice Arun Mishra · From the Bench to the NHRC
Justice S. Abdul Nazeer · From the Ayodhya bench to Raj Bhavan
The Ayodhya Bench · Five judges, one unanimous judgment
The Four Judges' Press Conference · An unprecedented public protest
Justice Markandey Katju · Outspoken judge, Press Council chair
Justice N. Santosh Hegde · Lokayukta who took on mining
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Privacy and the right to be forgotten
Justice S. Ravindra Bhat · Dissents on EWS and marriage equality
Justice A.K. Sikri · Aadhaar and transgender rights
Justice N.H. Bhagwati · The father of Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati
Justice J.M. Shelat · Superseded for Chief Justice in 1973
Justice A.N. Grover · One of the three judges superseded in 1973
Justice R.S. Sarkaria · Chaired the Sarkaria Commission on Centre–State relations
Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy · Wrote the majority opinion in Indra Sawhney
Justice B.N. Srikrishna · Inquired into the 1992–93 Bombay riots and led the data protection committee
Justice Sujata V. Manohar · The second woman judge of the Supreme Court
Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan · Wrote the NALSA judgment recognising the third gender
