# Justice Sanjay Karol retires, says judges not gods 2026-08-21T17:05:01+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets (4 source reports) Supreme Court Justice Sanjay Karol retired on August 23, 2025, after a farewell ceremony where he said judges "are not gods" and urged the Bar to remain strong. Speaking at the Supreme Court Bar Association function, he told young lawyers that real learning happens in courtrooms, not from studying Articles 14 and 21 in college. He said judges must see the person behind every case and understand that the strength of the judiciary comes from the Bar. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant praised Justice Karol for encouraging junior lawyers and for treating his courtroom as a space for dialogue. He recalled Justice Karol taking suo motu notice of a water shortage in Shimla and personally visiting a distribution site. Justice Karol also announced he would be the first judge to undergo mediation training on August 23, 2026. Justice Karol served as judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court from 2007, Chief Justice of the Tripura and Patna High Courts, and was elevated to the Supreme Court in February 2023. He said the true significance of the court lies in the faith of ordinary citizens and that judges must "live the Constitution" beyond just applying it. ## Indian Opinion Analysis All four sources reported the same farewell speech with straight factual coverage, no discernible slant. LiveLaw and Bar & Bench led with Justice Karol's remarks on the Bar and young lawyers, while Times of India led with his comment that judges are not gods. The differences are purely editorial choices of which quote to front, not stance. The consistent message is that Justice Karol emphasised humility, listening, and the importance of the Bar. Readers should note his commitment to mediation, with a concrete date for his own training in 2026, as a rare public pledge by a retiring judge. ## Coverage Coverage: 4 sources, 4 neutral - livelaw.in (neutral report) Straight report on Justice Karol's speech, no slant - livelaw.in (2) (neutral report) Straight report on CJI's speech, no slant - barandbench.com (neutral report) Straight report on farewell, no slant - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Straight report, led with judges are not gods quote This story was synthesised by AI from the 4 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 4 sources. Last updated 2026-08-22T12:41:09+00:00. Tags: CJI Surya Kant, Himachal Pradesh High Court, Sanjay Karol, SCBA, Supreme Court Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/justice-sanjay-karol-retires-urges-young-lawyers-to-attend-court/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/justice-sanjay-karol-retires-urges-young-lawyers-to-attend-court/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/