First-Generation Lawyer V. Mohana creates history as second woman to reach the Apex Court from the Bar
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ June 1,2026
Today the Central Government has notified the elevation of five persons as judges of the Supreme Court, including four sitting Chief Justices of High Courts and Senior Advocate V. Mohana, who practises at the Apex Court.
Senior Advocate V. Mohana is also a first-generation lawyer. With her elevation to the Apex Court, Senior Advocate V Mohana has become only the second woman in India’s history to be directly elevated from the Bar to the Supreme Court after Justice Indu Malhotra in 2018. She has become the 12th woman judge in the Court’s 76-year history.
Along with Justice BV Nagarathna, she will be one of only two sitting women judges of the Supreme Court.
Mohana is likely to serve a tenure of approximately five years on the Supreme Court bench upon her appointment, retiring in June 2031.
About Senior Advocate V. Mohana
Born on June 27, 1966, Mohana hails from Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and graduated from Coimbatore Law College in 1988. After moving to Delhi, she entered the chambers of Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan and trained under his guidance. She became an advocate-on-record at the Supreme Court in 1996 and was designated a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court in April 2015.
Her practice has spanned at least eight areas of law civil, criminal, constitutional, service, banking and SARFAESI, intellectual property, cybercrime, and corporate law, though she has built her reputation in constitutional and civil matters.
Interestingly, she was a classmate of sitting Supreme Court Justice KV Viswanathan and also worked alongside him in the office of former Attorney General for India KK Venugopal.
Among her most significant appearances was the litigation on permanent commission for women officers in the Indian Army, a case in which the Supreme Court ultimately directed the Army to grant permanent commission to Short Service Commission women officers. She has appeared in several other significant cases including senior citizens’ property rights and the Karnataka hijab ban case.
