Judge PN Prakash bids farewell to Madurai Bench of Madras HC

MADURAI: Justice PN Prakash, who is attaining superannuation this month, bade farewell to the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday.Speaking at the farewell conducted by the bar associations of the Madurai Bench, Justice Prakash regaled the audience, which comprised judges, law officers and advocates, with stories of 'Thiruvilayadal', his experience as an advocate and then as a judge in Madurai, making the audience laugh with his witty speech.

He spoke about the significance of a judge's role and his perspective about it. Sharing his memory about the Sathankulam custodial death case, which he heard with Justice B Pugalendhi, the judge said he could not sleep and had woke up his personal assistant at 5 am to dictate the order. The judge also talked about the uncertainty of life and death through the 'Thiruvilayadal' story and his own sister's untimely death. Both the story and his sister's death taught him not to fear death and helped him render his service during the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

Towards the end, he said he might have hurt anyone at some point of time and he expressed his apologies for that. "If a verbal apology is not enough, send me a letter, I will give you a written apology," the judge added. Justice Prakash enrolled as an advocate in 1984 and got elevated as a high court judge in 2013. He is retiring from service on January 11.