NEW DELHI: With Justice R Banumathi’s last day at the Supreme Court, the present strength of women judges will be reduced to two and overall strength to 31 judges. She will officially retire on July 19 but her last working day was on Friday. Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice Indira Banerjee will be the only two women judges until the collegium decides to elevate any women judge to the top court.
Known for writing maximum judgements during her stint of six years at the top court but also the rigour and thoroughness of her judgments. She belongs to a group of rare Justices elevated to the Supreme Court from the lower judicial service. Justice Banumathi has authored 386 judgments which is the maximum when compared to other sitting judges. With her retirement, the seven judges bench hearing issue on the issue of women entry in Sabarimala, Mosques, Parsi temples etc.
During an virtual farewell, Justice Banumathi recalls as to how legal system has treated her and her family and said, “I lost my father in a bus accident, when I was of 2 years age. In those days, we had to file a suit for compensation. We mother filed the claim and court passed a decree. But, we couldn’t get the amount due to complicated procedures and lack of assistance. Myself, my widowed mother and my two sisters; we are victims of court delay and its procedural lags.
We did not get the compensation till the last day.” Justice Banumathi authored several key judgements mostly on criminal law including the 2012 Nirbhaya Gangrape case. She has also written significant number of judgments on service, property, tenancy and arbitration matters. She started practised in Mofussil Courts at Tirupattur, Krishnagiri and Harur, State of Tamilnadu and 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 and elevated to High Court in 2003 and then elevated to apex court in 2014.