Rukhmabai Raut: The Relentless Rebel
India’s era of social reform, marked by calls for progress and justice, brought child marriage into focus as a deeply entrenched obstacle to the rights of women and girls. Though outlawed in 1929, the practice remains alarmingly prevalent, with 23% of Indian girls still married before the age of 18. Prominent reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar strongly opposed child marriage, pointing to its devastating impact on health, education, and personal freedom. Girls forced into early marriage face serious risks, including high maternal mortality, greater risk of domestic and sexual violence, and the loss of education and autonomy. While these practical harms motivated most reformers, as early as the 19th century, one woman named Rukhmabai Raut took the argument further. She launched a revolt that was grounded in the ideas of consent, autonomy, and dignity.
Rukhmabai’s opposition to child marriage stood apart not merely because it was bold, but because it was intellectually incisive. Writing to 'The Times (London)' in 1885 under the pseudonym 'A Hindoo Lady', she condemned child marriage not just as cruel, but as a violation of individual freedom and rational will. Her critique interrogated the foundations of patriarchal norms using reason and rights-based discourse, well ahead of her time. “The brutal custom of child-marriage has deprived all happiness of my life...”, she wrote. Rukhmabai Raut’s story deserves to be remembered not only because she was at the centre of India’s first major legal battle over conjugal rights, but also because she became one of the first Indian women to practice modern medicine. Rukhmabai’s life marked a shift in women’s rights discourse in colonial India—from a focus on suffering to one cantered on autonomy and freedom.
Born on 22nd November 1864 to Janardan Pandurang and Jayantibai, Rukhmabai lost her father at the age of two. Her mother, who belonged to the Sutar caste, was not confined by rigid Brahmanical norms and chose to remarry Dr. Sakharam Arjun Raut, a liberal social worker and professor of botany and medicine at Grant Medical College, Bombay. Although Dr. Raut fostered a progressive environment for Rukhmabai’s education, he, like many of his contemporaries, upheld certain conservative practices—such as arranging her marriage to his cousin when she was just 11 years old.Rukhmabai continued her education and refused to live with her husband for the next nine years, a decision supported by her stepfather—especially as Dadaji Bhikaji had become a dissipated, drunken, and debt-ridden man. When he summoned her to live with him again and she refused, it set the stage for a landmark legal battle. In 1885, Dadaji Bhikaji filed a petition in the Bombay High Court for the "restitution of conjugal rights," essentially demanding that Rukhmabai be forced to live with him as his wife. one of the most closely followed legal cases in colonial India.
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Life of Rukhmabai Raut, made on Canva
Her response became legendary: she would rather go to jail than enter a marriage she had never consented to. This act of defiance polarized Indian society. Conservatives decried her as a symbol of corrupting Western influence, and prominent nationalist leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak harshly criticized her through his newspapers, portraying her resistance as an affront to Hindu tradition. At the same time, reformers rallied behind her courage and conviction. Among her vocal supporters was Behramji Malabari, a reformist writer who campaigned against child marriage and advocated for women’s rights.
Rukhmabai’s activism extended well beyond the courtroom. Writing under pseudonyms such as A Hindoo Lady, she published powerful critiques in The Times of India, denouncing child marriage, illiteracy, domestic violence, and the systemic oppression of women. In 1887, her appeal to Queen Victoria—published in The Times of London through the Bishop of Carlisle—amplified her voice on an international stage. Despite widespread public opposition in India, her words resonated with a few influential allies.
Ultimately, the intense public debate and media scrutiny culminated in a resolution in 1888: Dadaji accepted a financial settlement and withdrew his claim. Rukhmabai’s unwavering refusal to be silenced not only secured her personal freedom but also ignited broader legal and social reforms. Her defiant stand brought national attention to the injustice of child marriage and contributed to a shifting legal landscape. Just a few years later, this momentum helped pave the way for the Age of Consent Act of 1891, which raised the minimum age for sexual consent for girls from ten to twelve. Though it was a step forward, Rukhmabai believed the law did not go far enough—she argued that fifteen should be the minimum age.
After the dust of the legal battle settled, Rukhmabai, with the unwavering support of Dr. Edith Pechey, a senior medical officer at the Cama Hospital in Bombay, pursued her long-held dream of becoming a physician. In 1890, she travelled to England and enrolled at the London School of Medicine for Women, an audacious decision for a woman from colonial India, especially one still under intense public scrutiny. During her time in England, Rukhmabai gained invaluable clinical experience at prestigious institutions, including the Royal Free Hospital, the Lying-in Institution in Brighton, and the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Since women were not permitted to sit for professional exams in England, she took matters into her own hands and sat for the Scottish Triple Qualification exams in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1894, followed by her Doctor of Medicine qualification in Brussels in 1895.
Returning to India in 1895, Rukhmabai chose a life of service over public acclaim, dedicating herself to improving women’s healthcare. She served as Chief Medical Officer at the Zenana (Women’s) Hospital in Surat and became one of the first Indian women to both qualify and actively practice Western medicine. Notably, she did so without the upper-caste privilege enjoyed by her contemporaries (Anandi Gopal Joshi and Kadambini Ganguly had received medical degrees earlier and Ganguly went on to practice medicine). During her time in Surat, where she worked at a women’s dispensary, she initially faced an empty clinic. However, that gradually changed, and by 1918, she declined a position in the Woman’s Medical Service to instead work at the Woman’s State Hospital in Rajkot. She continued to move between Bombay and Surat, steadily building her reputation as a skilled surgeon.
Her medical career, which spanned over three decades till 1929, was marked by a deep commitment to treating women with limited access to healthcare and included the founding of a Red Cross Society in Rajkot—an extension of her lifelong struggle for gender justice and social reform. Just as it seemed she had lived fully on her own terms, the news of Dadaji Bhikaji’s death led her, perhaps due to internalised norms or personal reasons, to adopt a widow’s attire, which she wore until her death.
Rukhmabai’s life was a series of quiet revolutions, each rooted in conviction and clarity of purpose. Whether resisting a forced marriage as a young girl in Bombay, braving the scrutiny of colonial society as a medical student in London, or tending to women’s health needs in provincial clinics, she consistently defied the limits imposed on her. On November 22, 2007, Google dedicated its homepage to a doodle honouring Rukhmabai Raut and her role in India’s reform movement. Rukhmabai reimagined what a free, self-determined life could look like for Indian women. In doing so, she offered more than resistance; she carved a legacy of courage and autonomy that continues to inspire generations.
Well written 👍👏
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