Sikkim judge becomes 2nd woman to head Patna HC

Patna: Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai of the Sikkim High Court was sworn in as the 48th chief justice of the Patna high court on Friday. Bihar governor Syed Ata Hasnain administered the oath of office at Lok Bhavan in Patna.Her appointment was made by President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday. She succeeds Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo, who served as chief justice of the Patna High Court from Jan 7 to June 4, 2026.Justice Rai becomes only the second woman to serve as chief justice of the Patna High Court after Justice Rekha Manharlal Doshit. She has also achieved a national milestone by becoming the first woman from Sikkim to head any High Court in the country.Born on July 12, 1964, in Gangtok, Sikkim, Justice Rai is the daughter of late Madan Mohan Rasaily, a former home secretary of Sikkim. She received her early education in Gangtok and Kurseong before graduating with honours in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College. She later obtained her LLB degree from the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, in 1989.Justice Rai enrolled with the Bar Association of Delhi in 1990 and briefly practised before the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court. Later that year, she joined the judicial service in Sikkim, becoming the state’s first woman judicial magistrate first class.During a judicial career spanning nearly three decades, she held several important positions, including chief judicial magistrate, district and sessions judge, and registrar general of the Sikkim High Court.On April 15, 2015, she was appointed as the first woman judge of the Sikkim High Court. Between 2018 and 2026, she served on multiple occasions as acting chief justice of the Sikkim High Court, gaining extensive administrative and judicial experience.Apart from her judicial responsibilities, Justice Rai also served as executive chairperson of the Sikkim State Legal Services Authority, contributing significantly to legal aid and access to justice initiatives in the state.Justice Rai is scheduled to retire on July 12, 2026, upon attaining the age of 62, giving her a tenure of a little over a month as chief justice of the Patna high court.