The Supreme Court on Tuesday recommended nine names, including three women, to the Centre for appointment as judges to the top court, reported The Indian Express. With this, Justice BV Nagarathna of the Karnataka High Court could become the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027.
Along with BV Nagarathna, three women judges recommended are Justice Hima Kohli of Telangana High Court & Justice Bela Trivedi of Gujarat High Court.
Nagarathna was appointed as an Additional Judge of the High Court of Karnataka in 2008 and as a permanent judge nearly two years later.
She is likely to have a month-long tenure. Her appointment will be a historic moment for the country’s judiciary. She will be following in the footsteps of her father ES Venkataramiah, who was the Chief Justice of India between June 1989 and December 1989.
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In November 2009, she, along with two other judges of the Karnataka HC were locked in a court room by a group of protesting lawyers but she braved the situation in a dignified manner. She later said: “We are not angry, but we are sad that the Bar has done this to us. We have to hang our heads in shame.”
In 2012, justice Nagarathna delivered a judgment emphasising on the need to regulate electronic media. “While truthful dissemination of information is an essential requirement of any broadcasting channel, sensationalism in the form of ‘Breaking News’, ‘Flash News’ or in any other form must be curbed,” she wrote in her judgment.
One of the key comments by Justice Nagarathna made during her recent court hearings is: “India’s patriarchal society doesn’t know how to treat empowered women.”
Currently, the top court has only one woman judge, justice Indira Banerjee, who is set to retire in September 2022. There have only been eight women judges appointed in the Supreme Court till date.
(With Agency inputs)