Rukhmabai

Rukhmabai, or Rakhmabai ((1864-1955), was an Indian woman who was the first practising woman doctor in colonial India. At the age of 11 she was married to a nineteen year old groom Dadaji Bhikaji but she lived with her mother, a young widow. Her mother married Assistant Surgeon Sakharam Arjun in an era when remarriage of widows was frowned upon. When Dadaji and his family asked Rukhmabai to move to their home, she refused. This led to a court case in 1885 which became led to a major discussion of child marriage and the rights of women. The debates around here case led to the passage of the Age of Consent Act, 1891, which raised the age of consent for marriage for girls in India from 10 to 12. When she expressed her wish to study medicine she was supported by many activists and a fund was established to support her studies in London.
Rukhmabai was formally married to her husband when she was 11 and he was 19. She remained living with her parents for a number of years before being summoned to live with her husband. Her husband initiated a court action for "restitution of conjugal rights".
After a series of court cases which resulted in the affirmation of the marriage, she wrote to Queen Victoria who overruled the court and dissolved the marriage. The publicity helped influence the passage of the Age of Consent Act, 1891 which outlawed child marriages across the British Empire.
From 1889-1894 she studied medicine at the London School of Medicine for Women and after becoming a doctor returned to India to lead a hospital in Poona.

The story of Rakhmabai has been incorporated into novels and films.