'Judicial independence difficult to establish if judges don’t consider themselves independent’

Justice Krishna Debnath, a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, said that in her 41-year judicial career, she has believed that although the independence of the judiciary is on paper, if judges don’t consider themselves independent in their thoughts, actions and beliefs, then the independence of the judiciary will be hard to achieve.

She said this at her farewell reception held in courtroom no 1 of the Appellate Division (Chief Justice's court) on Thursday afternoon.

Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddiquie and three other judges of the Appellate Division were on the bench at that time. The courtroom was packed with lawyers and dignitaries during the farewell reception.

As per custom, the judge was given a farewell reception on Thursday. At the reception, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Momtazuddin Fakir spoke about the career of Justice Krishna Debnath.

“On this last day, I want to depart from the judicial arena with the hope that a judge will complete his judicial duties on the principle that he is completely independent in his judicial work. And learned lawyers will cooperate with them in the interest of this organisation,” she said.

Justice Krishna joined the judicial service as a Munsif on December 8 in 1981 and was promoted to District and Sessions Judge on November 1 in 1998.

She was elevated as Additional Judge of the High Court Division on April 18 in 2010 and appointed Judge of the same Division on April 15 in 2012. She was further elevated to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on January 9 in 2022.

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