Australia gets first Sikh judge

By Asia Samachar | AUSTRALIA |

The Victorian Government has appointed Pardeep Tiwana as one of the four new judges to the County Court of Victoria, making him the first Sikh judge in Australia.

Pardeep was previously a law clerk and solicitor at Paul Vale Criminal Lawyers and a criminal barrister at 4 Fountain Court Chambers/Citadel Chambers in the United Kingdom. He was admitted to the England and Wales Bar in 1994 and signed the Victorian Bar Roll in 2009. Mr Tiwana holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Wolverhampton.

“Great to see diverse representation in Court,” said Mannie Kaur Verma, a young lawyer, in a comment on a social media platform.

Other Commonwealth countries have seen a number of Sikh judges on the bench.

In Britain in 2020, lawyer Ranjit Singh Uppal, who was already a deputy district judge and active in providing international legal training to foreign lawyers, was made a full-time district judge. The 47 year-old solicitor was to be known as District Judge Uppal.

In the same year, Malaysia’s Court of Appeal judge Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal was elevated to the Federal Court. The 61-year-old judge took the oath of office on 10 July.

In 2020, Singapore’s Judicial Commissioner Dedar Singh Gill was officially sworn in as a High Court judge.

In 2017, Palbinder Kaur Shergill made history when she became the first turbaned person to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Palbinder, who migrated with her family to Canada from Punjab, India, at the age of four, was a lawyer and mediator with her law firm Shergill & Company.

RELATED STORY:

Sikh judge elavated to Malaysia’s top court (Asia Samachar, 17 July 2020)