Supreme Court judge who authored the maximum judgments (386) in her six years of service in the top court in comparison to the other sitting judges is set to retire on July 19.
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) conducted a virtual farewell for Justice R Bhanumathi. With her retirement, the top court is only left with the strength of two women judges, Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice Indira Banerjee until there is an elevation of a woman judge to the apex court.
She grabs everyone’s attention and praise for her strong conviction towards her profession during the Nirbhaya case hearings. Other than that, Bhanumathi has also been the part of many landmark judgment benches like women’s entry in Sabarimala temple, Parsi temples, mosques, etc.
During her farewell speech, Justice Bhanimathi cited that she had also been a victim of judicial delay and said, “I lost my father in a bus accident when I was of 2 years old. In those days, we had to file a suit for compensation. My mother filed the claim and the court passed a decree but we could not get the amount due to complicated procedures. Myself, my widowed mother, and my two sisters. We were victims of Court delay and its procedural lags.”
She started her journey from practicing in Mofussil Courts at Tirupattur, Krishnagiri, and Harur, State of Tamilnadu. Later Justice Bhanumathi joined Tamilnadu Higher Judicial Service as a direct recruit District Judge in 1988 and worked as District and Sessions Judge in various Districts of the State. She was elevated to High Court in 2003 and then finally in 2014, she was elevated to Supreme Court.
