Senior Advocate Indu Malhotra will be sworn in as the seventh women judge in the Supreme Court since independence. The swearing-in ceremony will take place at the apex court on April 27.
Indu, 61, is the first woman lawyer to be elevated directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court. Other women judges were elevated to the Supreme Court from high courts.Her name was recommended by the Supreme Court’s Collegium in January, and approved by the Centre, on April 25.
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Indu Malhotra has appeared regularly in cases connected to medical and engineering colleges. She was one of the members of the Vishaka Committee on sexual harassment at workplaces. She was also part of a 10-member committee formed by the top court to deal with complaints of sexual harassment within the court.
Indu Malhotra was the second woman to be designated as a senior advocate in the Supreme Court in 2007 after a gap of over 30 years. The first woman judge of Supreme court was Justice Fathima Beevi who was appointed in 1989, 39 years after the Supreme Court was set up in 1950.
Apart from Indu, Uttarakhand Chief Justice KM Joseph was also recommended for elevation to the Supreme Court. However, the Centre asked the collegium to reconsider the it.