{{Short description|Indian judge (1939–2020)}} {{use Indian English|date=May 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Justice K. K. Usha.jpg | name = K. K. Usha | image_size = | caption = Usha in May 2020 | office = [[Chief Justice]] of [[Kerala High Court]] | term_start = 2000 | term_end = 2001 | predecessor = Arvind Vinayakarao Savant | successor = [[B. N. Srikrishna]] | office2 = Judge of Kerala High Court | term_start2 = 1991 | term_end2 = 2000 | nominator = | appointer = [[K. R. Narayanan]] | birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|7|3|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Thrissur]], Kerala, India | death_date = {{death date and age|2020|10|05|1939|7|3|df=yes}} | spouse = [[K. Sukumaran (judge)|K. Sukumaran]] | children = 2 | signature = Justice Usha autograph.png }}
'''K. K. Usha''' (3 July 1939{{spnd}}5 October 2020) was an Indian judge who served as [[Chief justice|Chief Justice]] of the [[Kerala High Court]]. She was the first female judge on the High Court. She advocated for [[women's rights]] and the elimination of all forms of discrimination. Usha served as president of the Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.
==Early life and legal career== K. K. Usha was born on 3 July 1939.<ref name="marunadanmalayalee.com">{{Cite web|title=കേരള ഹൈക്കോടതിയിൽ ചീഫ് ജസ്റ്റിസായ ആദ്യ മലയാളി വനിത കെ.കെ.ഉഷ അന്തരിച്ചു; ജസ്റ്റിസ് ഉഷ ...|url=https://www.marunadanmalayalee.com/more/obituary/former-chief-justice-of-kerala-high-court-justice-kk-usha-passes-away-206856|access-date=6 October 2020|publisher=www.marunadanmalayalee.com}}</ref> She enrolled as an advocate in 1961. She was appointed Government pleader in the Kerala High Court in 1979.<ref name=Kwomen/> She was a judge and then Chief Justice in the High Court from 25 February 1991 to 3 July 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://highcourtofkerala.nic.in/frmrjudges.html |publisher=High Court of Kerala |title=Former Judges |accessdate=20 April 2012}}</ref> She was the Chief Justice from 2000 to 2001.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.iptindia.org/wp-content/pdf/report/COMMUNALISM-IN-ORISSA.pdf |title={{title case|COMMUNALISM IN ORISSA}} |publisher=[[Indian People's Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights]] |accessdate=20 April 2012 |date=September 2006 |isbn=81-89479-13-X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517180804/http://www.iptindia.org/wp-content/pdf/report/COMMUNALISM-IN-ORISSA.pdf |archive-date=17 May 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> She was the first woman to join the Kerala High Court from the bar and become a Chief Justice. After retiring from the High Court, from 2001 to 2004 she was President of the Delhi-based Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.<ref name=Kwomen/>
==Other activities== In 1975, Usha represented India at the International Convention of the [[International Federation of Women Lawyers]] in [[Hamburg]], Germany.<ref name=role>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6wsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|title=Role of Women in India|first=Dr. Saroj Kumar |last=Singh|year=2017|publisher=RED'SHINE Publication. Pvt. Ltd|isbn=9789386483096|page=108}}</ref> She also represented India at the [[United Nations]]' Joint Seminar on "Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination as regards women", which had been organised by the International Federation of Women Lawyers and the International Federation of Women of Legal Careers.<ref name=role/> She was a member and the President of the University Women's Association. She was involved in "[[Sree Narayana Sevika Samajam]]", an orphanage and home for destitute women in [[Trivandrum]], the capital city of Kerala.<ref name=Kwomen/>
Between January 2005 and October 2006, Usha headed an enquiry by the [[Indian People's Tribunal]] (IPT) to investigate the communal situation in Orissa.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tlhrc.house.gov/docs/transcripts/2012_3_21_South%20Asia/Angana%20Chatterji%20Testimony.pdf |title=To: The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission |date=20 March 2012 |last=Chatterji |first=Angana |accessdate=19 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915102318/http://tlhrc.house.gov/docs/transcripts/2012_3_21_South%20Asia/Angana%20Chatterji%20Testimony.pdf |archive-date=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Activists from the [[Sangh Parivar]] disrupted the final hearing in [[Bhubaneswar]]. [[Angana P. Chatterji]], a member of the tribunal, alleged that Hindu nationalist activists threatened to rape tribunal members and to parade them naked in the streets.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/s-f-professor-fears-hindu-retaliation-2660792.php |journal=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |title=S.F. professor fears Hindu retaliation |first1=Mark |last1=Williams |first2=Jehangir |last2=Pocha |date=23 June 2005 |access-date=19 April 2012}}</ref> Usha and fellow tribunal member [[R.A. Mehta]], a former Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of [[Gujarat]], called the incident "shocking, outrageous and highly deplorable".<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/15/stories/2005061506381200.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060918071527/http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/15/stories/2005061506381200.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 September 2006 |title=Sangh Parivar activists disrupt tribunal hearing |journal=[[The Hindu]] |first=Prafulla |last=Das |date=15 June 2005 |accessdate=19 April 2012}}</ref>
In December 2011, Usha was a member of an IPT panel on human rights issues in [[Manipur]]. The panel, sitting in [[Imphal]], heard testimony about more than forty cases of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations over a five-year period. It recommended repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in the state.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110119/jsp/northeast/story_13459248.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122151426/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110119/jsp/northeast/story_13459248.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 January 2011 |title=Tribunal seeks act repeal – 'Independent' panel wants AFSPA to go |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=19 January 2011 |accessdate=20 April 2012}}</ref>
== Personal life == Usha was married to lawyer and judge [[K. Sukumaran (judge)|K. Sukumaran]] and they were the first judge couple in the country.<ref name="marunadanmalayalee.com"/> They had two daughters.
== Death == At the age of 81, Justice Usha went into [[cardiac arrest]] and died on 5 October 2020, following spinal cord surgery the previous week.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Justice KK Usha, first woman chief justice of Kerala HC from the bar, passes away at 81|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2020/oct/05/justice-kk-ushafirst-woman-chief-justice-of-kerala-hc-from-the-bar-passes-away-at-81-2206215.html|access-date=5 October 2020|website=The New Indian Express|date=5 October 2020 }}</ref>
==References== <references>
<ref name=Kwomen>{{cite web |url = http://www.keralawomen.gov.in/view_page.php?type=11&id=264 |work = Kerala Women |title = Chief Justice KK Usha |accessdate = 20 April 2012 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120305003038/http://keralawomen.gov.in/view_page.php?type=11&id=264 |archivedate = 5 March 2012 |df = dmy-all }}</ref>
</references>
== External links == * {{Commons category inline|K. K. Usha}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Usha, K. K.}} [[Category:1939 births]] [[Category:2020 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]] [[Category:20th-century Indian judges]] [[Category:20th-century Indian women judges]] [[Category:20th-century Indian women educators]] [[Category:20th-century Indian educators]] [[Category:21st-century Indian educational theorists]] [[Category:21st-century Indian judges]] [[Category:21st-century Indian women educators]] [[Category:21st-century Indian educators]] [[Category:21st-century Indian women judges]] [[Category:Chief justices of the Kerala High Court]] [[Category:Educators from Kerala]] [[Category:20th-century Indian women educational theorists]] [[Category:Judges of the Kerala High Court]] [[Category:People from Thrissur]] [[Category:Women educators from Kerala]]