Rukhmabai (1864-1955) was an Indian physician and feminist. She was the first practicing female doctor in colonial India, and she was also involved in a landmark legal case involving her marriage as a child bride in 1884-1888. Her case contributed to the Age of Consent Act in 1891, which made child marriages illegal across the British Empire.

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At 11 years of age, Rukhmabai was married to 19-year-old Dadaji Bhikaji, a cousin of her step-father. She refused to live with Bhikaji and in 1885, sought a legal case seeking "restitution of conjugal rights." The law found that Rukhmabai had been wed in her "helpless infancy" and she couldn't be forced as a young lady. The case was brought up for a retrial with the argument of the law not respecting Hindu customs. In 1887, Rukhmabai was ordered to live with her husband or face six months of imprisonment. She responded that she would rather face imprisonment than obey the verdict. She later appealed to Queen Victoria who overruled the court and dissolved the marriage.

 

After the case was settled in 1889, Rukhmabai set sail for England to study at the London School of Medicine for Women. She was the second Indian woman to receive a medical degree, and the first to practice medicine. In 1895, she returned to India and worked as the Chief Medical Officer at the Women’s Hospital in Surat, and began a distinguished 35-year career in medicine. Rukhmabai remained active in social reform, writing against child marriage and purdah (women’s seclusion), until her death.