| R. Banumathi | |
| Office: | Judge of the Supreme Court of India |
| Term Start: | 13 August 2014 |
| Term End: | 19 July 2020 |
| Nominator: | Rajendra Mal Lodha |
| Appointer: | Pranab Mukherjee |
| Office1: | Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court |
| Term Start1: | 16 November 2013 |
| Term End1: | 13 August 2014 |
| Office2: | Judge of the Madras High Court |
| Term Start2: | 3 April 2003 |
| Term End2: | 15 November 2013 |
| Nominator2: | V. N. Khare |
| Appointer2: | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| Birth Date: | 1955 7, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Uthangarai |
| Appointer1: | Pranab Mukherjee |
R. Banumathi (born 20 July 1955) is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.[1] She is from Tamil Nadu and the sixth woman to be a judge of the Supreme Court of India.[2] Earlier, she served as the chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court[3] and judge of the Madras High Court.[4] [5] [6] [7] She also served as the chancellor of Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad.[8]
Banumathi joined Tamil Nadu Higher Judicial Service in 1988 as a direct recruit district judge. As a sessions judge, she headed one-person commission on police excess by Special Task Force in Chinnampathy, Coimbatore district in 1995–96.
In April 2003, she was then elevated as a judge of the Madras High Court. She dealt with the case on banning Jallikattu or bull hugging sport. In November 2013, she was transferred to the Jharkhand High Court and was appointed chief justice of that court at the same time. In August 2014, she was elevated to the Supreme Court of India after her name had been recommended for the post by the collegium headed by then Chief Justice R M Lodha. She is only the second woman sessions judge to rise to the country's highest court.[9]