Justice Bela Trivedi retires from SC: Kapil Sibal recalls ‘empathy’ exchange as CJI raps bar for skipping farewell

NEW DELHI: Justice Bela M Trivedi, the eleventh woman to serve the Supreme Court, demitted office on Friday after three‑and‑a‑half years on the bench, receiving courtroom tributes that doubled as a rebuke to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for refusing her a formal farewell.Presiding over a packed ceremonial bench, Chief Justice of India B R Gavai praised her service and criticised the bar’s stance. “I must deprecate openly… On such an occasion, such a stand ought not to have been taken by the Association,” he said, expressly thanking senior advocate Kapil Sibal and SCBA vice‑president Rachna Srivastava for attending despite the SCBA’s resolution.Sibal, who heads the SCBA, drew applause with a personal anecdote from a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in which he had sought the accused’s transfer from Karnataka to Kerala."This court is a constellation of stars, and you are one of them," Sibal said. "Just think about it, you are the 11th woman judge in this court. In the 75 years of this country, one lady judge was appointed every seven odd years. That itself is a great milestone."Sibal recounted a courtroom moment that had stayed with him from the UAPA case. "Out of a hunch, I said, 'I expect your ladyship to have some empathy.' Your ladyship then said, 'You don't know me then,'" Sibal recalled. "Well, we knew you before you came here. And we will know you after you leave here. Thank you very much for what you have done. I don't think any judge in this court bows down to popular sentiment."Justice Trivedi’s judicial career began in 1995 as a trial‑court judge in Ahmedabad, where she notably sat on the same roster as her father, a pairing that entered the Limca Book of Records. After stints on the Gujarat and Rajasthan High Courts, she was elevated to the Supreme Court on 31 August 2021, part of the unprecedented nine‑judge intake that included three women.Born on 10 June 1960 in Patan, Gujarat, the jurist spent a decade practising in the Gujarat High Court before joining the judiciary. Colleagues on Friday credited her for “precise” rulings and her role in the court’s deepest cross‑border‑terrorism decisions, including recent observations on Operation Sindoor.The SCBA’s decision not to host a farewell—rare for a sitting justice—remains unexplained. Yet the full courtroom turnout, the CJI said, “vindicates that she is a very, very good judge… Different types of judges should not be a factor to deny what ought to have been granted.”