1. The Supreme Court of India has only 2 women judges (out of 31).
2. Only 5.8 percent of the total number of judges in India’s 24 courts are women.
3. In the history of the Supreme Court we’ve only had 5 women judges (including the 2 sitting judges). The first one was Ms. Fathima Beevi in 1989. She was also the first Muslim woman to be appointed to any higher judiciary.
4. In the period between 1991 and 2011, the Delhi High Court selected only three women as senior advocates – out of a total of 122 new senior advocates.
5. In July 2013 the Supreme Court passed an order approving regulations against sexual harrassment in court premises – The Gender Sensitisation & Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013. The Court was responding to a writ petition after a Delhi High Court worker was found filming the women’s bathroom with a mobile camera. The Supreme Court had passed the Vishaka judgment making it mandatory for any organization employing more than 10 women to have an mechanism against sexual harassment. When? Way back in 1997.
Update: TOI reports today. “The court will also see its two women judges – Justices Gyan Sudha Misra and Ranjana P Desai – retire next year. Justice Misra will superannuate on April 27 while Justice Desai will retire on October 29.”