Seven all-women benches to sit at Karnataka High Court's Dharwad wing on August 1

In a first, Dharwad Bench of the Karnataka High Court will comprise only all-women Benches on August 1.

The special Saturday sitting of the Court will see seven benches functioning with only women judges.

Advocate Sanjana S Mudhol, ladies representative of the Advocates’ Association, told Bar and Bench that this special sitting of all the women judges of the High Court was in response to a request made by the committee members of the Association.

There will be three division benches and four single-judge benches sitting on August 1 at the Karnataka HigH Court.

The division benches are:

1. Justice Anu Sivaraman and Justice KG Shanthi;

2. Justice Jyoti M and Justice P Sree Sudha;

3. Justice Lalitha Kanneganti and Justice KS Hemalekha. 

The single-judge benches are:

1. Justice Chillakur Sumalatha;

2. Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju;

3. Justice Geetha KB;

4. Justice Rajeshwari N Hegde.

All women benches are a rarity in constitutional courts across India. Historically, even the Supreme Court has seen only a handful of all-women benches.

The first was in 2013 and comprised of Justices Ranjana Desai and Gyan Sudha Misra. The second was in 2018 and comprised of Justices R Banumathi and Indira Banerjee. In 2022, another all women bench was constituted at the Supreme Court comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Bela M Trivedi. Later in 2023 came a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Hima Kohli.

High Courts have seen even fewer all-women benches. Kerala High Court has the only recorded instance of a full bench comprising women judges. On International Women's Day, 2022, a full bench comprising Justices Anu Sivaraman, Shircy V and MR Anitha was constituted to hear a batch of petitions.

One of these judges, Justice Anu Sivaraman, who has since been transferred to Karnataka, will be gracing one of the all women benches now constituted at the Dharwad Bench.

[Read Notification]