Indu Malhotra

Some Lesser Known Facts About Indu Malhotra

• Indu Malhotra was born as a second generation lawyer in Bengaluru.

• Indu is the youngest child of late Om Prakash Malhotra who was a Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India.

• Her father was also a distinguished author who had penned down a treatise on the Law of Industrial Disputes. At the fag end of his life, he authored a commentary on the Law & Practice of Arbitration and Conciliation.

• When she was young, she moved to Delhi.

• After finishing her schooling from Carmel Convent School, New Delhi, she did her B.A. (Hons.) Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College.

• While pursuing her Law at the Delhi University, she would be a Delhi University lecturer in the morning and a law student in the evening.

• As a teacher, Indu Malhotra also had a short stint at Miranda House College and Vivekananda College in Delhi.

• In 1983, when Indu joined the legal profession, she was in her late 20s.

• She has spent more than three decades of her litigation career at the Supreme Court.

• In 1988, in the Advocate-on-Record examination for the Supreme Court, Indu Malhotra secured the first position. The exam is a tough one to crack for most lawyers.

• In 2007, when Indu Malhotra was designated a senior advocate by the Supreme Court, she became the second woman to achieve the feat after Justice Leila Seth, who was given the honour in 1977. It was also a rare feat to achieve, as all the sitting judges of the apex court have to give consent to the decision unanimously. Even if a single judge dissents, the application is rejected. 

• She has also represented various statutory bodies such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).

• Ms. Malhotra was also appointed as an amicus for the restoration of Jaipur as a heritage city. 

• In 2012, she raised her voice against the sexual harassment of female advocates in court complexes and made a plea for setting up complaint committees in courts to examine the sexual harassment incidents in the court premises. To this, the Supreme Court formed a 10-member sexual harassment committee, of which Ms. Malhotra was a member.

• Like her father, she has also authored “The Law and Practice of Arbitration in India.” The book was released in April 2014. 

• Ms. Indu is on the board of trustees of SaveLIFE Foundation. She represented the NGO in the Supreme Court in a case after which, the apex court issued a slew of directions to protect Good Samaritans who save lives in road accidents. 

• She also fought a legal battle in the Supreme Court to ban protruding rods/loads to be carried in trucks. After which, the Centre imposed a ban on vehicles carrying protruding rods or protruding load from March 2014. 

• Indu Malhotra’s role was also instrumental in the apex court’s July 2015 landmark verdict that unmarried mothers could have legal guardianship of their children without the father’s consent.

• She has specialised in the law of arbitration.

• In April 2018, Indu Malhotra’s name was etched in the history of Indian Judiciary, when she became the first woman lawyer to be elevated as a Supreme Court judge. With this, she also became the 7th female Supreme Court Judge. The earlier six women Supreme Court Judges are- Fathima Beevi (1989-1992), Sujata V Manohar (1994-1999), Ruma Pal (2000-2005), Gyan Sudha Misra (2010-2014), Rajana P Desai (2011-2014) and sitting Supreme Court Judge R Banumathi.

• Here’s a conversation with Indu Malhotra:

• On 12 January 2022, the Supreme Court of India appointed her the head of a 5-member panel to probe Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s security breach in Punjab when Prime Minister’s motorcade was on its way to the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, Punjab, and it stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. ^[1]Hindustan Times