New Delhi, April 27: Senior lawyer Indu Malhotra was sworn in on Friday as Supreme Court judge, amid raging controversy over the Narendra Modi government returning recommendation on Justice K.M. Joseph.

She was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. She will have a tenure of a little over three years.

With her swearing in the strength of the top court judges rose to 25 -- six still short of the actual sanctioned strength of 31.

It is for the first time that the apex court has two women judges -- the other being Justice R. Banumathi. Justice Malhotra is the fifth woman judge of the top court. 

Justice Fatima Bibi was the first woman judge of the Supreme Court. She was followed by Justice Ruma Pal, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra and Justice Banumathi.

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ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.

The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.

Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.