Trailblazer all the way!
Fathima Beevi was born on the 30 April 1927 in Pathanamthitta in Kerala to Amaveetil Meera Sahib and Khadeja Bibi. After finishing her schooling at Catholicate High School she graduated in Chemistry from the University College, Thiruvananthapuram. A flair for Law resulted in her securing a Law Degree from the Government College, Thiruvananthapuram. Thereafter she embarked on a career in law and enrolled as an advocate on 14 November 1950.
In those days, she had to encounter several glass ceilings which she shattered on her way to topping the bar exams in 1954, becoming a Munsiff in the Kerala Subordinate Judicial Services in 1988, and was promoted as Subordinate Judge in 1968. Later, she served as the District and Sessions Judge as well. She became a permanent judge of the High Court on 14 May 1984.
Fathima Beevi became the first woman to be elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on 16 October 1989. She also became the first Muslim woman to be appointed to the higher judiciary in the country. Her stint in the Supreme Court witnessed her maintaining the dignity of the judiciary in every sense of the world. Soft spoken, she was an authority on various facets of the law and her judgements showed a deep understanding of the intricacies of legal jurisprudence.
After she superannuated as a SC judge, she also became the first Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission. Here again, her uprightness and integrity served her in good stead and her tenure was marked by an adherence to the principles of law and justice. The Kerala Government also appointed her as the Chairperson of the Commission for Backward Classes.
Fathima Beevi thereafter became the Governor of Tamil Nadu in 1997 and served in the gubernatorial post till 2001. Incidentally, she was the first woman Muslim governor of the state. During her gubernatorial tenure, she rejected the mercy petitions of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. She also courted controversy on several occasions as the governor and was enmeshed in the political rivalries between the DMK and the AIADMK, the two main parties in Tamil Nadu. However, she always stuck to her guns and was hailed for her fearlessness and her readiness to take bold decisions on critical issues of governance.
The eminent jurist was the recipient of several awards and they included the Padma Bhushan conferred posthumously on her by the government of India in 2024. She was honoured by the Kerala government with the Kerala Prabha Award in 2023, the second highest honour conferred by the state. A doctorate and the Mahila Jyothi Award also came her way.
Fathima Beevi passed away on 23 October 2023, at the Government Hospital in Kollam aged 96. Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked that he was saddened by the passing away of Fathima Beevi who was a true trailblazer. He also added that her remarkable journey broke several barriers and greatly inspired the women of the country. A documentary in Malayalam titled ‘Neethipadayile Dheera Vanitha’ (A brave woman in the path of justice) highlighted the several milestones achieved by her and her contributions in the field of law and justice.
Fathima Beevi will go down in history for rising from a very humble background to occupying a slot in the highest judiciary of the land. The story of her life will serve as a beacon light to millions of women in India and abroad and will continue to inspire all those who seek to rise and shine in their respective vocations. She had to face several challenges in a highly patriarchal society in those times and she overcame each one of them to carve her own niche and etch her name in the history books.
C.V. Aravind is a Bangalore-based freelance journalist.