Justice Fathima Beevi, the first woman judge of the Supreme Court and former governor of Tamil Nadu, passed away on November 23. She was 96. 

From SC judge to governor

• Justice Fathima Beevi, who was born in April 1927 in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, completed her schooling at the Catholicate High School there and then graduated from University College in Thiruvananthapuram. 

• Subsequently, she obtained a law degree from Law College in Thiruvananthapuram and enrolled as an advocate in 1950. 

• She was, thereafter, appointed as Munsiff in the Kerala Subordinate Judicial Services in 1958, promoted to subordinate judge in 1968, and became Chief Judicial Magistrate in 1972. 

• Justice Beevi went on to become a district and sessions judge in 1974 and was appointed as the judicial member of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in 1980. 

• She was elevated to the Kerala High Court in 1983 and became a permanent judge there the very next year. 

• She went on to become the first woman judge in the Supreme Court of India in 1989 and retired from there in 1992. 

• After her retirement, she served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission before becoming the governor of Tamil Nadu in 1997. 

• She served as the Tamil Nadu Governor from 1997 to 2001 when Jayalalitha was the chief minister of the state.

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