Justice Abdul Nazeer, who was on Ayodhya Bench, retires

His presence had, in a unanimous verdict granted the title of the controversial Ramjanmabhoomi to the Hindu parties

Justice S. Abdul Nazeer speaks at the farewell event hosted by the the Supreme Court Bar Association on January 4, 2023. YouTube/@SupremeCourtBarAssociation

Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, the only judge from a minority community who was part of a five-member Supreme Court Bench in the Ayodhya case, retired on Wednesday.

Justice Nazeer’s retirement came after two back-to-back judgments in which a Constitution Bench he led had upheld this week the 2016 demonetisation process and declared that there was no need to impose additional restrictions on the free speech right of Ministers, MPs, MLAs and other leaders.

The judge, who retired as the third senior-most judge of the apex court and a member of the Supreme Court Collegium, said in his farewell speech that the trajectory his legal career took, from a lawyer in Karnataka to a Supreme Court judge, felt like he had “lived a dream”.

Several feathers to his cap

Justice Nazeer was part of the Bench in several historic judgments of the court in recent history. He had endorsed the minority view of then Chief Justice J.S. Khehar while the majority on the Constitution Bench had struck down triple talaq. He was also part of the nine-judge Bench which upheld privacy as a fundamental right.

But it was Justice Nazeer’s presence on the Ayodhya Bench, which had in a unanimous verdict, granted the title of the controversial Ramjanmabhoomi to the Hindu parties, which won a few mentions on his final day as judge.

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, heading the Ceremonial Bench assembled for Justice Nazeer, said, “Justice Nazeer was not the one who would be neutral between right and wrong but he stood for what is right. We shared the Ayodhya Bench and we worked together and delivered a decision together.”

Later in the evening, the Supreme Court Bar Association president, senior advocate Vikas Singh, speaking at the customary farewell programme for the retiring judge, said, “It was expected that Justice Nazeer will give a separate opinion in the Ayodhya case but he is truly a secular judge. He agreed with the majority view and that shows his attitude that the nation comes first and an individual like him comes last.”