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{{Short description|Indian judge (1905–1996)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anna Chandy
| image = Anna chandy judge.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Justice Anna Chandy
| birth_name = Anna
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1905|04|5}}
| birth_place = [[Trivandrum]], [[Travancore]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1996|07|20|1905|04|5}}
| death_place = [[Kerala]], [[India]]
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
| known_for = First woman Judge of India, First woman Judge in commonwealth countries
| education =
| alma_mater = *[[Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram]]
*[[Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram]]
| employer = [[Kerala High Court]]
| occupation = [[Judge]]
| title = Hon. Justice
| height =
| term = 9 February 1959 to 5 April 1967
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| boards =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| parents =
| relations =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

Justice '''Anna Chandy''' (1905–1996), also known as '''Anna Chandi''', was the first female judge (1937) and then [[List of high courts in India|High Court]] judge (1959) in India. She was one of the first female judges in the [[British Empire]].<ref name="AnnaChandy-Manu-2016">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1160604/jsp/t2/story_89159.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607082845/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160604/jsp/t2/story_89159.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 June 2016|title='Manu and the 'muse'|date=4 June 2016|website=[[The Telegraph India]]}}</ref>

==Life==
Anna Chandy was born in 1905, in the erstwhile kingdom of [[Travancore]] and raised in [[Trivandrum]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Devika |first1=J. |title=Her-self: Early Writings on Gender by Malayalee Women, 1898–1938 |year=2005 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-81-85604-74-9 |page=113 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xyr6gXmva-gC&pg=PA113 |language=en}}</ref> She was an [[Saint Thomas Anglicans|Anglican Syrian Christian]] who embraced [[Catholicism]], in later life.<ref name="Mosse2022">{{cite book |last1=Mosse |first1=Kate |title=Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World |date=13 October 2022 |publisher=Pan Macmillan |isbn=978-1-5290-9221-9 |page=115 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biJxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT115 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chandy |first1=Anna |title=Athmakatha (The autobiography of Anna Chandy) |date=1973 |publisher=Carmel Books |location=Thrissur}}</ref> After obtaining a post-graduate degree from [[Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram]] in 1926, she became the first woman in her state to get a law degree. She was called to the bar and practiced as a [[barrister]] from 1929 onwards. In 1931–32, she contested elections to the legislative assembly of Travancore princely state and was elected; she served as a legislator during the period 1932–34.

In 1937, Chandy was appointed as a [[munsif]] in [[Travancore]] by the Maharaja upon the advice of his [[Dewan]] (First Minister), [[C. P. Ramaswami Iyer|Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer]]. This made Chandy the first female judge in India. In 1948, she was raised to the position of [[District Courts of India|District Judge]].<ref name="devika" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://cprfoundation.org/otherpages/01-cprmain.htm |title=First to appoint a lady advocate – Mrs. Anna Chandy — as District Judge. |access-date=2008-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705050015/http://cprfoundation.org/otherpages/01-cprmain.htm |archive-date=5 July 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> She became the first female judge in an Indian high court when she was appointed to the [[Kerala High Court]] on 9 February 1959. She remained in that office until her retirement on 5 April 1967.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://highcourtofkerala.nic.in/frmrjudges.html |title=Former Judges of High Court of Kerala |access-date=2008-05-27 }}</ref> In her retirement, Chandy served on the [[Law Commission of India]] and also wrote an autobiography titled ''Atmakatha'' (1973). She died in 1996.<ref name="devika" />

Throughout her career as a lawyer, politician, and judge, Chandy simultaneously promoted the cause of women's rights, most notably through, a woman's magazine that she founded and edited.<ref name="devika">{{cite book |title=Herself |author=Devika J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xyr6gXmva-gC |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year =2005 |page=xxiv |isbn=9788185604749 }}</ref> Often described as a "first generation feminist", Chandy campaigned for election to the Shree Mulam Popular Assembly in 1931.<ref name="devika" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Development, Democracy and the State: Critiquing the Kerala Model of Development |editor-first=K. Ravi |editor-last=Raman |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |page=179 |isbn=9781135150068 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGiMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA179}}</ref> She met with hostility from both her competition and newspapers<ref name="Mukhopadhyay">{{cite book |title=The Enigma of the Kerala Woman: A Failed Promise of Literacy |editor-first=Swapna |editor-last=Mukhopadhyay |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2007 |page=113 |isbn=9788187358268 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZglbETspkcC&pg=PA113}}</ref> but was elected for the period 1932–34.

== See also ==
* [[First women lawyers around the world]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
((1. https://web.archive.org/web/20120304222528/http://keralawomen.gov.in/view_page.php?type=11&id=262))

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandy, Anna}}
[[Category:Scholars from Thiruvananthapuram]]
[[Category:Indian Anglicans]]
[[Category:Malayali people]]
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:Judges of the Kerala High Court]]
[[Category:Women in Kerala politics]]
[[Category:Women from the Kingdom of Travancore]]
[[Category:People from the Kingdom of Travancore]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian judges]]
[[Category:Former judges of Indian high courts]]
[[Category:High Court of Kerala former judges]]
[[Category:Women educators from Kerala]]
[[Category:Educators from Kerala]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women judges]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]

Anna Chandy - Revision history

imported>Mugsalot: removed Category:Saint Thomas Christians; added Category:Indian Anglicans using HotCat