Guwahati, Nov 23: The first woman judge of the Supreme Court, Justice M Fathima Beevi, passed away at the age of 96 on Thursday.
According to reports, apart from being the first woman judge of the top court, Justice Beevi was also the first woman from a minority community to be appointed to the higher judiciary in the country.
Born in 1927 in Kerala, she was encouraged by her father to study law and in 1950, she topped the Bar Council exam becoming the first woman to receive a Bar Council gold medal.
Justice Beevi started her career as an advocate in Kerala and went up to become a district and sessions judge in 1974. In 1983, she was appointed as a judge in the High Court.
She created history after being appointed as the first women judge of the Supreme Court in 1989.
Justice Beevi also served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission and then as Governor of Tamil Nadu after retiring in 1993.
