S. Abdul Nazeer Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About S. Abdul Nazeer

• S. Abdul Nazeer is an Indian advocate who served as the judge of the Karnataka High Court (2003-2017) and the Supreme Court of India (2017-2023). In 2023, he was appointed as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh.

• He was born into a Muslim family with poor financial conditions.

• Nazeer grew up working as a farmer at his uncle’s farmhouse and scavenging for fish at the Panambur beach in Mangalore to make a contribution to his family’s income.

• Abdul Nazeer was inspired by a senior advocate named Vijay Kumar, who belonged to his taluka, to pursue a career in law.

• During the initial days of college, Nazeer actively participated in theatres. He directed some theatrical productions for which he used to compose songs as well. He lent his voice as the lead female vocalist in one of his theatre productions.

• After completing a law degree at S.D.M. Law College in Mangalore, Karnataka, Abdul moved to Bengaluru in 1983 to enrol himself as an advocate. The man who recommend Nazeer as a member of the Bar Council of Karnataka became his father-in-law.

• Abdul Nazeer practised at the Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru for nearly 20 years.

• On 12 May 2003, Abdul Nazeer was appointed as an Additional Judge at the Karnataka High Court. He was appointed as the permanent judge at the Karnataka High Court in 2004 by the President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and was nominated by the 33rd Chief Justice of India, V. N. Khare.

• While serving as a judge at the Karnataka High Court, Abdul Nazeer was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on 17 February 2017, becoming the third judge to be elevated to the Supreme Court of India without serving as the chief justice of some high court. Nazeer was nominated and appointed by Jagdish Singh Khehar and the then President of India Pranab Mukherjee respectively. He retired on 4 January 2023 after serving a six-year term at the Supreme Court of India.

• S. Abdul Nazeer was part of various significant judgements during his six-year term as the judge of the Supreme Court of India. He sat on 458 benches and authored 93 judgements.
  

  A bar graph showing judgements authored by Justice S. Abdul Nazeer during his six-year term as the judge of the Supreme Court of India

  

  A chart showing the subject matters of Justice S. Abdul Nazeer’s judgments

• S. Abdul Nazeer adjudicated several disputes and was part of many significant judgements including the Triple Talaq case (Shayara Bano v Union of India) (2017), the Fundamental Right to Privacy (Justice K. S. Puttaswamy v Union of India) (2017), the Ayodhya dispute (M. Siddiq v Mahant Suresh Das) (2019), and Union’s 2016 Demonetisation Scheme (2023).

• He was the only Muslim in the five-judge bench that heard the Triple Talaq case and gave its verdict with a majority of 3: 2; the bench asked the Central government to bring legislation in six months to govern marriage and divorce in the Muslim community. Abdul Nazeer was part of the three-judge bench that heard an appeal to the Ayodhya title dispute. Abdul Nazeer upheld the ASI report, which affirmed the existence of a Hindu Structure in the disputed region and gave the verdict in favour of Ram Mandir; the years-long dispute ended with a 5-0 verdict.
  

  A group photo of the five judges who delivered the verdict in the Ayodhya land case, at the Supreme Court in 2019. S. Abdul Nazeer is on the extreme right.

  In 2023, he led the five-judge bench that upheld the verdict of the Union’s 2016 Demonetisation Scheme by a 4:1 majority.

• On 14 March 2020, he inaugurated the POCSO Court on the first floor of the district court building in Udupi, Karnataka.
  

  S. Abdul Nazeer while inaugurating the POCSO Court in Udupi, Karnataka on 14 March 2020

• On 12 February 2023, S. Abdul Nazeer was appointed as the 24th Governor of Andhra Pradesh by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu.

• Abdul Nazeer is a subscriber of WhatsApp University.

• He is inclined towards literature and has learned the Sanskrit language.

• He is a big fan of watching cricket.

• Nazeer loves singing. During his term as the judge of the Supreme Court of India, he would often join his colleagues in co-curricular activities, especially singing. He was famous for singing Tulu songs.

• While talking about his initial days as an advocate in the Karnataka High Court at the Supreme Court Bar Association Function, which was organised on 4 January 2023 on his retirement as the judge of the Supreme Court of India, Nazeer compared himself with the ‘duck syndrome.’ He said that he worked really hard in the initial days of his law career to excel in the profession. S. Abdul Nazeer said,
  

  I was like a duck who is seen gliding smoothly on the water, but is actually paddling furiously under the water just to keep itself afloat.” ^[1]The Hindu

  

  S. Abdul Nazeer while giving speech at the Supreme Court Bar Association Function organised for his retirement as the judge of the Supreme Court of India on 4 January 2023

• The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud talked about Nazeer’s initial days as an advocate while giving a speech at Nazeer’s retirement ceremony and revealed that Nazeer once told him that he was worried about his future as he had to overcome many social and economic barriers, along with working on spoken English, to make himself a fit for the legal circles in Karnataka.

• He attributes his success to the sacrifice made by his mother.

• Abdul Nazeer loves writing and maintaining a diary in the first few pages of which he has written some inspiring quotes.