First Woman Judge of India- Anna Chandy
The State of Kerala has many firsts in its name. It has been the leader in Literacy rate, Women empowerment etc. It has not only given the First Woman Supreme Court Judge but also the first woman judge in India and the first woman judge who got appointed to any High Court.
Justice Anna Chandy was born in 1905 and she became judge in 1937 and then reached to High Court in 1959. She was the first woman to get a law degree in the erstwhile State. She also has many firsts in her telly.
She was born in the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore and brought up in Trivandrum. She was an Anglican Syrian Christian who professed Catholicism in later life. She got a post-graduate degree in 1926 and then became the first woman in her state to get a law degree. She practiced as a barrister from 1929 onwards. She contested elections for the legislative assembly in 1931 from Travancore's princely state and was elected to the assembly. She served as a legislator from 1932–34.
Later in the year 1937, she was appointed as a Munsif Magistrate in Travancore by the then Maharaja of Travancore upon the advice of his Dewan Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer. This was when she created history and became the first female judge in India. She was promoted to the position of District Judge in 1948. In 1959, she became the first female judge in an Indian High Court when she was appointed to the Kerala High Court on 9 February 1959. She remained in that office as High Court Judge until her retirement on 5th April 1967. After retirement, she served as a member of the Law Commission of India and also wrote an autobiography titled Atmakatha in 1973. She passed away in 1996.