Haley: Mother was denied judgeship in India

New York, March 30

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has claimed her mother, who had studied to be a lawyer in India, was not allowed to sit on the Bench as a judge because she was a woman.  

“I am a big fan of women. I think there’s nothing they can’t do. And I think any democracy that has allowed themselves to really lift up women has benefited from it,” Haley said when asked about the role of women following her speech to the Council on Foreign Relations here yesterday.

  She went on to briefly narrate the story of her mother’s life in India where she was among the first female judges, “but was not allowed to sit on the Bench as she was a woman”.

  “And so I think, this is near and dear to my heart because my mother — you know, when you didn’t have a lot of education in India, my mother actually was able to go to law school. And she was actually put up to be one of the first female judges in India, but because of the situation with women, she wasn’t allowed to sit on the Bench. But how amazing for her to watch her daughter become Governor of South Carolina and US ambassador to the United Nations,” Haley said.

Haley was born Nimrata Randhawa to Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, who had emigrated from India to Canada and then to the US in the 1960s.

  Justice Anna Chandy was the first female judge in India and also the first woman in India to become a high court judge. She was appointed as a munsif in Travancore in 1937. Underscoring that legal immigration is the fabric of America, Haley said she is the “proud daughter” of Indian immigrants and stressed that people should not be banned from countries due to their religion.

  “We will never close our doors in the US but what we did do is take a pause and say how are we going to keep our people safe,” she said, adding that she hopes the vetting process gets better and the administration moves forward with it. — PTI