Icon of women’s empowerment, gender justice: India’s first woman Supreme Court Justice Fathima Beevi passes away

In his condolence message, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the life of Justice Beevi was one of the remarkable chapters of women’s empowerment in Kerala. Through Justice Beevi, Kerala had won recognition as the state which contributed the first woman judge to the country, he said.

Vijayan said Justice Beevi had a unique strength to overcome all hurdles in life and her life is an inspiration for the entire society, especially women. Her erudition in constitutional matters was demonstrated during her days as the governor of Tamil Nadu, added the chief minister.

A supportive father

Justice Beevi, who had also served as the governor of Tamil Nadu from 1997 to 2001, finished school at Catholicate School in Pathanamthitta in 1943, completed her graduation in Chemistry from Women’s College, and studied law at a government law college in Thiruvananthapuram.

Born in Pathanamthitta in 1927, she was the eldest of eight children of Annaveetil Meera Sahib and Khadeeja Beevi. Sahib, a government employee with the registration department, wholeheartedly supported and encouraged the educational aspirations of his children, particularly his six daughters at a time when Muslim girls shied away from higher education.

After Beevi graduated in Chemistry, it was Sahib who persuaded his daughter to go for a law course. Her dream was a post-graduation in Chemistry, but Sahib was inspired by the story of Anna Chandy, the first woman judicial officer in the then erstwhile Travancore state. Sahib had then said that a post-graduation in Chemistry would get her into the teaching career, but law would help her climb up ladders.

She made history in the corridors of the legal profession as well as judiciary, at every level. In 1949-50, when she graduated as a law student, it was mandatory to clear an exam by the Bar Council to get enrolled as a lawyer. In 1950, Beevi became the first woman law graduate to get the gold medal from the Bar Council.

She then enrolled as a junior advocate in Kollam district court. A Muslim woman in a headscarf in the court had irked orthodox elements in the Muslim community. But Beevi went on to break the glass ceiling.

After eight years, she joined the judicial service as a munsiff and then became the district sessions judge in 1974. She got elected as a munsiff through a competitive exam held by the then government.

From High Court to Supreme Court to Raj Bhavan

Beevi was appointed as a judge of the Kerala High Court in 1983 and was elevated to a judge of the Supreme Court in 1989. Justice Beevi leaves behind an illustrious career as the judge of the Supreme Court from 1989 to 1992.

As a judge, Justice Beevi stood for equality in crucial verdicts. She was part of the bench which heard a case pertaining to certain provisions of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Appointments) Act in 1991. She also highlighted the constitutional provision that safeguards every citizen against the arbitrary exercise of authority by the state or its officers.

After retiring from the apex court, she served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission and also as the governor of Tamil Nadu.

As governor of Tamil Nadu, she had hit headlines after rejecting the mercy pleas of those convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. After the Supreme Court reconfirmed the death sentences awarded to Nalini, Murugan, Santhan, and Perarivalan in 1999, Beevi as Governor of Tamil Nadu commuted the death sentence awarded to Nalini the next year, on the grounds that she was a woman and had a daughter. However, she rejected the clemency petitions of the other three accused.

Her tenure as the governor of Tamil Nadu was eventful on another ground. In the 2001 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK led by J Jayalalithaa had obtained a majority, but she was then debarred from contesting elections for six years after she was convicted in a corruption case. But Beevi invited Jayalalithaa to form the government and was ready to administer the oath of office to her as the chief minister.

Beevi was of the view that the majority party had elected her as the leader of the parliamentary party of the AIADMK. She then submitted her resignation in the wake of the Union Government recommending the President to recall the Governor on the ground that the Raj Bhavan failed to discharge its constitutional obligations.

Years later after she came back to Kerala, Justice Beevi said, “I had opened the closed door. I am the first to be appointed to the Supreme Court. It was not because of any scarcity of competent women to be appointed to the Supreme Court. There were competent persons, women also. But it was for the executive to do it”.

With regard to her decision to invite Jayalalithaa to head the government in 2001, Justice Beevi said, “At that time, she was acquitted and no conviction was prevailing. I had then consulted SC judges before the decision and they all agreed with me”.

She also said she found nothing wrong in SC judges taking up appointments after retirement. “But they should act correctly. they should not go astray and should not identify with any interest,’’ she had said.