Despite 77 years of independence, the harsh reality remains: women are still in need of transformative justice and societal upliftment. The progress we celebrate has yet to bridge the gap between equality and empowerment. The debate over whether women need positive discrimination to ensure equal rights as men cannot be deemed redundant, especially when considering that, the majority still reside in rural regions, where women continue to face discrimination and gender-based violence. Even in cities, women still struggle for equal employment opportunities and confront challenges such as sexual harassment in the workplace. Female prisoners also face unique hardships due to biological factors. The recent landmark judgments by the Punjab & Haryana High Court reflect the harsh realities women still face and the role of judiciary in empowerment. On this Women's Day, we reflect on how the High Court has played a transformative role in advancing justice for women. Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul said, the Constitution safeguards her right to live freely and make her own choices, without external interference. The notion that her father, or anyone else, can impose their will upon her based on a perceived social role is a direct affront to the right of equality and personal liberty enshrined in our constitution. While directing the medical board to re-examine the possibility of terminating the pregnancy, who opined that at this stage foetus would likely be born alive and thus recommended continuation of the pregnancy, Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj said, this Court may have approved of the medical termination if the foetus or the mother would have suffered a grave physical or mental harm or the child was likely to be born with serious physical, mental or psychological deformities, however, a mental shock or stigma as a result of a pregnancy not approved, but on account of a consensual relationship, cannot at this juncture be seen as an event which would have an irreversible mental hazard. Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma said, Petitioner Neetu Sharma has approached this court with a grievance that she had applied for the post of Punjabi Language Mistress (the word mistress is although inappropriate but is a term being used by the State Government and therefore this Court would not delete it. however. would refer to it as Teacher hereinafter keeping in view the observations of the Supreme Court with regard to use of appropriate terminology while addressing the female gender).