Google doodles Cornelia Sorabji on 151st birth anniversary
Cornelia Sorabji
Sorabji was the first woman to practise law in India
Google paid tribute to Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to practice law in India, with a doodle on the occasion of her 151st birth anniversary.
Sorabji, born in Maharashtra's Nashik in 1866 is also recognised as the first woman graduate of Bombay University, the first woman to study law at Oxford University and first Indian national to study at any British University and first female advocate in India.
Sorabji was the first woman advocate to join Allahabad High Court bar, fought tirelessly for the rights of 'Purdanashins', veiled women forbidden by social custom from communicating with men outside their families.
Sorabji helped an estimated 600 women and orphans fight legal battles, sometimes at no charge.
She was barred from practising her profession in both Britain and India despite clearing the law examination in Allahabad High Courtin 1899.
Later, she becamethe legal advisor to the colonial government of India.
The doodle is designed by illustrator Jasjot Singh Hans, that shows Sorabji in front of Allahabad court, to which she was eventually admitted in 1923 when the ban on female lawyers was lifted.