Biography of Rukmabai Tuller complete biography for Class 10, Class 12, and Graduation and other classes.
| Full Name | Rukhmabai |
| Born | 22 November 1864, Mumbai |
| Died On | 25 September 1955, Mumbai |
| Known for | A Woman of Fortitude |
Rukhmabai Raut was an Indian woman who was one of the leading feminist activists in British India during the late 19th century. She is best known for her legal battle in the case of “Rukhmabai vs. Bhicaji Rustom Cama”, which helped to challenge discriminatory laws related to marriage and divorce for women in colonial India.
Rukhmabai was born in 1864 in a small village in what is now the state of Maharashtra, India. Her father, a Marathi-speaking Deshastha Brahmin, was a British-trained physician, and her mother was a literate woman from a relatively well-off family.
In 1885, at the age of 11, Rukhmabai was betrothed and married to a man named Bhicaji Rustom Cama, who was 20 years her senior. However, Rukhmabai refused to consummate the marriage and moved to live with her parents. A legal battle ensued, and in 1887, the Bombay High Court ruled that Rukhmabai was legally married to Cama and that she must cohabit with him.
Rukhmabai refused to comply and was found guilty of contempt of court. However, the case received widespread attention and became a cause célèbre in colonial India. Rukhmabai’s refusal to accept the validity of her child marriage, and her legal battle to avoid cohabiting with her husband, helped to raise awareness of the issue of child marriage and the need for reform of laws related to marriage and divorce for women in colonial India.
Rukhmabai continued her activism for women’s rights and in 1889, she was one of the founding members of the first women’s organization in India, the Indian Women’s Association. In 1894, Rukhmabai became the first woman in India to qualify as a physician and to practice medicine.
She is considered as one of the first women to be educated and practice medicine in India at that time and a pioneering feminist figure.
