According to a recent study conducted by Agami, CivicDataLab, and the Centre for Public Policy, Law and Good Governance at National Law University, Cuttack, Odisha (NLUO), the representation of women in courts is dismal. The KHOJ (Know Your High Court Judges) dataset revealed that less than 8 percent of High Court judges in the last 25 years have been women. The top court saw only four women during the same period. Additionally, more than half of country's high courts never had a women Chief Justice.
Among the High Courts, Madras saw a maximum representation with 19 women of the 97 total judges in the last 25 years. Delhi too had the similar number of female judges. Madras and Delhi was followed by Allahabad, Bombay, Calcutta and Madhya Pradesh High Courts. Even then, the percentage of women was abysmal. For instance, out of 305 judges appointed at Allahabad HC, only 14 were women. That's less than five percent. Similarly less than 10 percent of the total judges in Bombay HC were females. For Karnataka HC, the figure was 8 percent.
In the last 25 years, the country saw only 13 women elevated as High Court Chief Justices as against 190 males. Madras and Jharkhand High Courts had two female’ chief justices, the highest in the country. While top courts like Bombay, Madras, Kerala and Calcutta had only one female chief justice in the last 25 years. Some of the most important courts like Allahabad, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana and Rajasthan never had a women as a chief justice.
The Supreme Court too has a dismal performance when it comes to representation of women. The top court had its first female judge almost 40 years after independence when Justice Fathima Beevi was sworn in. Since then, only 11 women have adorned the Supreme Court. Also, a majority of them have a tenure less than their male counterparts. For instance, Justices Ranjana P. Desai, Gyan Sudha Misra, Hima Kohli and Bela M. Trivedi had less than four years' tenure. Only Justice Banumathi served for six years. Even if all were to go to plan, Justice Nagarathna's turn to head the top court would come in 2027, about a month before she is due to retire.
