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Witness History: Cornelia Sorabji: India's first woman lawyer

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13/01/2021 GMT

Cornelia Sorabji: India's first woman lawyer

BBC World Service - Witness History, Cornelia Sorabji: India's first woman lawyer

She was the first to graduate from Oxford and was a pioneer for women lawyers in Britain.

The first Indian woman lawyer helped women living in seclusion in19th century India who had no legal rights. She undertook daredevil rescues and survived attempts on her life.

Cornelia Sorabji was the first woman lawyer working in India. She helped women living in purdah or seclusion in the 19th century who had no access to the law.  The women were married into royal families and prevented from seeing men other than their husbands or family. This meant they had no way of seeking justice when they received cruel treatment, attempts on their lives or were disinherited by their husbands' families. Cornelia Sorabji was able to visit these women and often helped free them from violent abuse.  She was so successful that some royal families tried to kill her. Claire Bowes has been speaking to her nephew, Sir Richard Sorabji, about her life and how she helped pave the way for women lawyers in Britain.

Photo: Cornelia Sorabji in a BBC studio in January1931.

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