Justice Anuja Prabhudessai of Bombay High Court demits office; women judges' count reduces to 10

Justice Anuja Prabhudessai demitted office as a judge of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday bringing down the count of women judges in the High Court to ten..Out of the ten female judges in High Court, six sit at the principal bench in Bombay while the others are at benches in Aurangabad, Nagpur and Goa.The six sitting at the principal bench are Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Bharati Dangre (permanent judges) and Justices Sharmila Deshmukh, Gauri Godse, Dr Neela Gokhale and Manjusha Deshpande (additional judges).The remaining four judges, Justice VV Kankanwadi and Justice MS Jawalkar (permanent) and Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Vrushali Joshi (additional) are presently presiding at Nagpur and Aurangabad benches..Justice Prabhudessai was born in Quepem taluka of South Goa. After her schooling, she completed her graduation in BA from Panaji and then did law from Kare College of Law in Goa. She practice in civil and criminal courts in Goa.In 1991, she joined as civil and judicial magistrate first class in Goa and was promoted as district judge in 1998. In 2007, she was appointed as the principal district judge. Apart from judicial work, Justice Prabhudessai served as secretary of the law department and also presided over the Industrial Tribunal between 2008 and 2011.In March 2014, Justice Prabhudessai was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court becoming the first woman to be a judge of the High Court's Goa bench. Incidentally, when she joined, the number of female judges rose to 11 in High Court. After a tenure of 10 years in High Court and an overall career of 33 years in the profession, the judge demitted office on Wednesday..Sitting with Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya as part of the ceremonial bench on Wednesday, Justice Prabhudessai expressed her gratitude to all her well wishers.She also had a word of advice for women lawyers about the struggles in legal profession and the importance of hard work. “Lady lawyers, there may be some hurdles in life. There will be a lot to manage. You may have to balance between work and home. I am sure you will excel eventually. There is no word called impossible in my dictionary,” the judge said..CJ Upadhyaya wished Justice Prabhudessai the best for her third innings. He also recounted how a judicial officer aspirant once said she wanted to be like Justice Prabhudessai.“I wish I was in a position to ask her to continue. One of my brother-colleagues shared an anecdote with me. He is on the panel of interviewers for judges. A woman candidate was appearing and he asked her what made you choose this. She said ‘I want to become Justice Anuja Prabhudessai’. That is the reputation and respect Justice Prabhudessai commanded,” the judge said..Advocate General Dr Birendra Saraf also bid farewell to the judge, stating that Justice Prabhudessai would be remembered as a judge who encouraged lawyers at the Bar.“The seniority of the lawyer, their personality did not matter. Only merits (of the case) mattered. Whenever she saw a case of gross injustice, she would intervene. She was considerate about the causes of prisoners. She was sensitive in matrimonial matters,” the AG said.Bombay Bar Association President, Senior Advocate Nitin Thakker and Senior Advocate Sanjeev Kadam from the Advocates Association of Western India also spoke on the occasion.