Chief Justice N.V. Ramana on Sunday batted for 50 per cent representation for women in the judiciary and also supported the demand for reservation for women in law colleges across the country.
Addressing women advocates of the Supreme Court, who had organised a felicitation function for him and the nine newly appointed judges to the top court, the Chief Justice said: “With your anger, you shout, you demand, we need 50 per cent representation. It is not a small issue; issue of thousands of years of suppression. You are entitled, it is a matter of right. Nobody is going to give a charity”. He added that it is very unfortunate that it has been realized very late.
“I don’t want you to cry but with anger, you have to shout and demand that we need 50 per cent reservation,” he said.
The CJI paraphrased Karl Marx to say, “Women of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.”
“In High Courts, women judges constitute 11.5%. Here in the Supreme Court, we currently have four women Justices out of the sitting 33. That makes it just 12%. Of the 1.7 million advocates, only 15% are women. Only 2% of the elected representatives in the State Bar Councils are women…. There is no woman member in the Bar Council of India. This needs urgent correction,” Chief Justice Ramana said.
“I am also forcing the Executive for applying necessary correctives… I am happy to have colleagues in the Collegium who are progressive and determined to bridge the gap in the higher judiciary,” the CJI said.
Over the last 70 years, there have been only 8 Supreme Court judges, beginning with M Fathima Beevi in 1989.
Taking the total number to four, three women were sworn in as Supreme Court judges on 1 September. Justice Nagarathna is set to become India’s first woman Chief Justice in 2027 for a brief period of one month.