On Women’s Day, as legal luminaries batted for appointment of more women judges, the latter continue to remain significantly underrepresented in India's High Courts, forming only a small proportion of the overall judicial strength across the country.
According to data released by the Ministry of Law and Justice on February 6, 2026, there are 116 women judges out of a total working strength of 781 judges across the High Courts, accounting for roughly 14.85 per cent of the sitting High Court judges. Across the 25 High Courts, the Punjab & Haryana High Court has the highest number of women judges (18).
As for women's representation in Supreme Court, it currently has only one woman judge, Justice BV Nagarathna, out of its present working strength of 33 judges. No woman judge has been appointed to the Supreme Court since September 2021, when three women judges (Justices Hima Kohli, Bela Trivedi and BV Nagarathna) were elevated together to the Court. Over time, as the others retired, Justice Nagarathna remains the only woman judge currently serving on the Bench.
Historically, the highest number of women judges in the Supreme Court at any given time has been four. This was following the appointments made in September 2021, which briefly brought the total number of sitting women judges in the Court to four.
On International Women's Day, the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, called for measures to increase the representation of women on the bench. While the picture in the higher judiciary may not be positive, the representation of women in the district judiciary is quite encouraging. The CJI stated on Monday that women judges account for nearly 37 per cent in the district judiciary. Across the 25 High Courts, the Punjab & Haryana High Court has the highest number of women judges (18).
The Punjab & Haryana High Court leads the country number-wise with 18 women judges out of a working strength of 61, accounting for 29.51% of its bench, one of the highest among major High Courts. The Delhi High Court and Madras High Court also have relatively significant representation with 10 women judges each, translating to 22.73 per cent and 18.87 per cent respectively.
The Bombay High Court has 12 women judges (15 per cent), while Karnataka (9 women judges, 19.57 per cent), Calcutta (8, 18.60 per cent), Gujarat (7, 20 per cent), and Telangana (7, 25 per cent) also show comparatively better gender representation. Among smaller High Courts, Sikkim has the highest percentage representation at 33.33 per cent, though this is based on one woman judge out of three.
At the other end of the spectrum, several High Courts continue to have extremely low representation of women judges. Madhya Pradesh High Court has only one woman judge out of a working strength of 42 (2.38 per cent), one of the lowest ratios in the country. Allahabad High Court, the largest High Court with a working strength of 110 judges, has only 7 women judges (6.36 per cent), reflecting a very low proportion despite its large bench. Similarly, Kerala (7.5 per cent), Jharkhand (7.14 per cent), Chhattisgarh (6.67 per cent), Patna (5.26 per cent), and Orissa (5.26 per cent) have limited representation of women judges.
Some High Courts currently have no women judges at all. These include the Manipur High Court, Tripura High Court, and Uttarakhand High Court, each reporting zero women judges in their present working strength.
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