Country's first woman SC judge, former Union Minister among Padma award winners from Kerala

Kochi, April 23: M. Fathima Beevi, the first woman judge of the Supreme Court who later became the Governor of Tamil Nadu, has been posthumously conferred with the Padma Bhushan award.

96-year-old Fathima Beevi passed away in November 2023. She was also the first woman chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, and the first Muslim lady Governor.

She enrolled herself as an advocate in 1950 and began her career in the lower judiciary in Kerala. In 1958, she was appointed the Munsiff and was promoted as the Sub-ordinate Judge in 1968. In 1984, she became a permanent Judge of the High Court.

Later, she was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court in October 1989, from where she retired in April 1992.

After almost five years, Fathima Beevi became the Governor of Tamil Nadu in January 1997.

Former Union Minister O. Rajagopal, is the second person from Kerala, who received the Padma Bhushan award.

93-year-old Rajagopal was a Union Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government from 1999-2004. He was the first BJP candidate to win an assembly election in Kerala in 2016 Assembly polls. He, however, quit active politics after his term in the Assembly ended in 2021.

Besides two Padma Bhusans, Kerala has six Padma Shri recipients which includes member of the Travancore Royal family and author Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi, spiritual guru Muni Narayana Prasad, Kathakali exponent Sadanam Balakrishnan, educationist-author P. Chithran Namboodiripad (posthumously), Theyyam artiste E.P. Narayanan and farmer Sathyanarayana Beleri.