Justice Banumathi Retires July 19 (File)
New Delhi:
Justice R Banumathi, one of three female judges of the country’s Supreme Court, said that her family had suffered judicial delays in the past. “I lost my father in a bus accident and my family was delayed for compensation,” the judge said on her last day at work as she addressed her job. farewell by videoconference.
Justice Banumathi will retire on July 19.
She commended the government and the judiciary for trying to ease the burden of business.
“Nowadays everyone is talking about the hanging and the backlog, but I want to make a positive point – various initiatives have been taken by governments and the judiciary,” she added.
Justice Banumathi thanked family members, colleagues and staff for their support and praised the media for saying that their coverage of the Supreme Court had been disciplined.
On the last working day, Banumathi J. sat with the Chief Justice, as is customary.
Attorney General KK Venugopal said the Supreme Court would lose a good judge. He said she should continue her legal work through arbitration.
Justice Banumathi has been a judge for more than three decades. She began her career as a district judge in 1988 in Tamil Nadu. She was elevated to the rank of judge at the Madras High Court in April 2003. In 2013, she was appointed chief judge of the Jharkhand High Court. In August 2014, she became a judge of the Supreme Court.
Judge Banumathi, along with former CJI judge Dipak Misra, had written the judgment confirming the death penalty for the Nirbhaya murders. She also dealt with the politically sensitive bail case of Congressman P Chidambaram’s bail.
After her retirement, only two female judges – Indira Banerjee and Indu Malhotra – remained on the Supreme Court.
