Judges not gods, won't get every judgment right: Outgoing SC Judge Sanjay Karol

New Delhi, Judges are not gods and they will not get every judgement right, retiring Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Karol said in his farewell address on Saturday.

He also said that judging requires a certain degree of humility and the ability to see the real person behind every litigant.

The apex court on Saturday bid an emotional farewell to Justice Karol, with Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Bar leaders, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Supreme Court Bar Association President Pradeep Rai, paying glowing tributes to the outgoing judge on his last working day.

"The Constitution does not ask us merely to apply the law correctly. It asks us to apply it justly. That is perhaps why the responsibility of judging has always seemed larger to me than simply deciding who is legally correct.

"We, as judges, are not gods. We will not get every judgment right. What was always in our hands was simple: to see the person, not just the petitioner. A petition can only tell you the facts of a case, but it cannot tell you what the person has already lost or what he is hoping to seek from the courts. And perhaps that is why I have always said that judging requires certain level of humility," Justice Karol said.

Justice Karol was elevated to the Supreme Court on February 6, 2023. A ceremonial bench on his last day in office comprised CJI Kant and Justices Karol, Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.

In his farewell address, Justice Karol reflected on his nearly four-decade journey in the legal profession and said the courtroom had never been merely a workplace for him, but a vehicle for something "greater and more important" than himself.

"I will not pretend that this journey has been mine alone. This courtroom has not left me; it has supported me," he said.

Justice Karol said he spent 40 years in courtrooms, initially as an advocate appearing before the Bench and, for the last 19 years, as a judge.

He spoke of the importance of listening beyond the spoken arguments and said there were "eloquent silences" in courtrooms that judges must learn to understand.

"In the silence of the Bar, there is a way of listening," he said, emphasising that what mattered in the judicial process was not merely the arguments advanced, but also what people were praying for "in the spaces between the words".

Recalling his first visit to courtroom No. 1 of the Supreme Court in 1996, Justice Karol said the bench appeared to him to be almost six feet above the ground.

"Judging from there has taught me something about this courtroom's symbolism. From below, the height of the bench can appear to signify authority. From the comfort zone, it signifies something quite different, and that is responsibility with dignity and honesty," he said.

Justice Karol said the true significance of the Supreme Court lay in the faith of an ordinary citizen who enters its doors believing that someone would listen.