Rekha Dikshit (born 10 August 1959) is a former judge of

Allahabad High Court Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest hig ...

, in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

, India. She has been the trial judge in several notable cases, including the case of ''

Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum ''Mohd. Ahmad Khan v. Shah Bano Begum'' 985 (1) SCALE 767 = 1985 (3) SCR 844 = 1985 (2) SCC 556 = AIR 1985 SC 945 commonly referred to as the Shah Bano case, was a controversial maintenance lawsuit in India, in which the Supreme Court delivered ...

,'' a controversial case concerning the payment of maintenance to Muslim women in India, as well as the

Taj Corridor case The Taj Heritage Corridor case is an alleged scam wherein 2002–2003, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati and a minister in her government, Nasimuddin Siddiqui, were charged with corruption. The Taj Corridor project was intended t ...

and the

Uttar Pradesh NRHM scam Uttar Pradesh NRHM Scam is an alleged corruption scandal in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in which top politicians and bureaucrats are alleged to have siphoned off a massive sum estimated at from the National Rural Health Mission, a central ...

Life

Dikshit studied law at

Agra University Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, formerly Agra University, is an Autonomous University located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university is named after Bhimrao Ambedkar, Indian scholar, social reformer, and the architect of the Indian Consti ...

, and graduated in 1981. She is married to Pradeep Dubey, a lawyer who has acted as an advisor to the Governor of Uttar Pradesh and as principal secretary to the

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the- ...

Career

Dikshit was appointed as a Principal Sessions Judge in 1984, and was promoted to District and Sessions Judge in 2013. In 1988, Dikshit was a judicial magistrate in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and divisio ...

and tried the case of ''

,'' ruling that the respondent, Shah Bano, was entitled to maintenance payments from her husband. The ruling was affirmed by the Allahabad High Court and Supreme Court, and later resulted in the enactment of

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act was a landmark legislation passed by the parliament of India in 1986 to protect the rights of Muslim women who have been divorced by, or have obtained divorce from, their husband and to prov ...

. Dikshit also served as the district judge in

Rae Bareli Raebareli is a city in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Raebareli district and a part of Lucknow Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Sai river, southeast of Lucknow. It possesses many ar ...

and

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation ( help· info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military station ...

, and as a special judge in Lucknow in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Court for the investigation into the

and the

. She was appointed to the Allahabad High Court as an additional judge on 15 November 2016, and became a permanent judge on 23 March 2018. As a High Court judge, Dikshit has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to conduct an inquiry into allegations of discrimination in the admission of students who belong to states outside Uttar Pradesh, in Uttar Pradesh medical schools. In 2016, she refused a plea to allow a plea by a

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

worker to transfer the investigation into the

2015 Dadri mob lynching The 2015 Dadri lynching refers to case of lynching in which a mob of villagers attacked the home of 52-year-old Mohammed Akhlaq, killing him, for suspicion of slaughtering a cow. The attack took place at night, on 28 September 2015 in Bisahda ...

to the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governme ...

, after the Uttar Pradesh police investigation revealed that the rumours that triggered the lynching were false. She was retired on 9 August 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dikshit, Rekha 1959 births Living people Judges of the Allahabad High Court 20th-century Indian judges 21st-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian women judges 21st-century Indian women judges