Dear DY Chandrachud, Where’s the Diversity in India’s Justice System

Concerns on the abysmal status of diversity are often sought to be assuaged by the ‘promising’ rise in the number of female judges in the district judiciary. This rise, last reported more than two years ago (December 2022) in a parliamentary answer, revealed that nationally 35 percent of the judicial officers in district courts were female.

In states like Uttar Pradesh (32 percent), Bihar, (24 percent), and Gujarat (19 percent), women judges are well below the halfway mark. It is in smaller states like Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and others that women judges’ share is more than 50 percent.

The situation is even more dire in the higher courts, where appointments are made via the collegium system that recommends names for elevation of judges from the lower courts or directly from the bar.

As of today, only 13 percent of High Court judges are women with only the Gujarat High Cour having a serving woman Chief Justice. Over 75 years since Independence, the Supreme Court has only had 11 female judges and not a single female Chief Justice. The first female CJI would be appointed in 2027, for a period of 36 days before she retires. Currently, out of 32 judges, there are only two females at the Supreme Court.