Kerala Judiciary Set to Get Its First Woman Judge with Total Visual Impairment

Thanya Nathan C, a 24-year-old lawyer from Kannur district in Kerala, is poised to become the first woman with total visual impairment to enter the state judiciary after topping the merit list of persons with benchmark disabilities in the recently held civil judge (junior division) recruitment examination for the Kerala Judicial Service.

Completely blind since birth, Ms Nathan secured the highest rank among candidates with benchmark disabilities in the Kerala High Court Judicial Service Examination 2025, and her name has now been forwarded for appointment as a civil judge. Her success has been welcomed as a landmark moment for inclusion in the legal profession in Kerala and beyond.

Ms Nathan’s journey into law began after she completed her schooling at a special school for the visually impaired and subsequently in mainstream institutions. She went on to top her LLB class at Kannur University even as the only visually challenged student in her batch. After graduating, she enrolled as an advocate and practised in the district court at Taliparamba, preparing case notes in Braille and using screen-reading tools to assist her work.

Her decision to prepare for the judicial services examination was bolstered by a landmark Supreme Court judgment in 2025, which held that visually impaired candidates cannot be held unsuitable for judicial roles solely because of their disability. The judgment underscored that disability by itself cannot be a ground for denying an aspirant the opportunity to serve as a judge and urged recruitment authorities to adopt inclusive practices.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan had said that a rights-based approach necessitates that PwDs (persons with disabilities) must not face any discrimination in their pursuit of judicial service opportunities. Instead, there must be affirmative action by the State to provide an inclusive framework.

The Court had highlighted that the principle of reasonable accommodation, as enshrined in international conventions, established jurisprudence, and the RPwD Act, 2016, mandated that accommodations be provided to PwDs as a prerequisite to assessing their eligibility.