Justice Kurian Joseph, who was one of the four senior judges to have conducted an unprecedented January 12 presser against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, retired from the Supreme Court on Thursday after a five-and-a-half-year tenure.
Lawyers led by SC Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh bid adieu to Justice Joseph by terming him as one of the most “popular” judges in recent times with a “pleasant smile”. They urged CJI Ranjan Gogoi to replace him with a judge having a similar smile.
Sitting in the CJI’s court as the convention, Justice Joseph, the third senior-most judge, hailing from Kerala, responded by saying, “When you smile, others also smile and there are miles and miles of smiles. Life is worthwhile with smiles.” The lawyers also showered encomiums on the judge for being compassionate in dealing with the matters particularly those related to matrimonial disputes.
“Compassion from the court is not the charity of a judge, it is the bounden duty of a constitutional court,” he said in a function organised by the SCBA.
He also said the silence of lawmen does more harm than the violence of the laymen. “India is a land of diversity. The Constitution is the common thread that binds us all together,” he added.
Justice Joseph, who will turn 65 on November 30, was part of the five-judge bench which by a majority of 3:2 had ruled the practice of divorce through triple talaq among Muslims as “void”, “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.