Suman Bodani appointed as Pakistan’s first Hindu civil judge

For the first time ever Pakistan has appointed a female Hindu judge to the civil and judicial magistrate.

Suman Pawan Bodani, who belongs to Shahdadkot area in Sindh stood 54th in the merit list for the appointment of civil judge/judicial magistrate.

After completing her intermediate from her native town Shahdadkot, Bodani received her Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree from Hyderabad before moving to Karachi to pursue Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST). She then worked for Advocate Rasheed A Razvi’s firm.

In an interview with BBC Urdu, Bodani said she hails from an underdeveloped rural area of Sindh, where she has seen the poor struggling to cope with various challenges. “They cannot even afford to lodge cases. This is the reason behind my decision of joining law so I can bring justice to them.”

Bodani added that she faced resistance from her community as they do not approve of girls working in the field of law. However, she said her family including her father and siblings extended their full support to her and did not pay any heed to what people would say and helped her in achieving her dreams.

Last year, Justice Tahira Safdar took oath as the first woman chief justice of the Balochistan High Court. Justice Safdar was also the first woman civil judge in Balochistan and has the distinction of being the first woman to be appointed in all posts she has served on.