Bokhary retired from his position as Permanent Judge on 24 October 2012 upon reaching the retirement age of 65. In remarks upon the occasion, he warned of "a storm of unprecedented ferocity" which threatened the judicial autonomy of Hong Kong. Commenting on the decision not to extend his retirement age, Bokhary suggested that, "If you were asking if I believe that the reason why retirement age was not extended is because of my liberal judgements, then I would tell you that I do believe that." Nevertheless, reflecting on his time on the bench, Bokhary stated that, although opinions between the justices differed on occasion, he never encountered anything less than a highly-cooperative attitude, both at the hearing and judgment-writing stages. He also insisted that Hong Kong judges would always independently apply the law, Beijing's power to interpret the Basic Law notwithstanding: “The very fact that there’s an interpretation Beijing shows you that the court is independent. Because if the courts are not independent, then they could just be told quietly behind the scenes what to do, and they would do it. But everybody knows that’s not how it works in Hong Kong.”