Rigorous law is often rigorous injustice.

A rule applied to the letter can produce a clear injustice. Rules are written for the ordinary case, and the unusual one arrives with facts the drafters never pictured, so the strictly correct answer becomes the obviously wrong one. Being able to point at the clause is not the same as being right.

Where you have the discretion, use it and say plainly that you are. Look for the place you are currently enforcing something to the letter because it is safer than judging, and ask who is being harmed by that safety. If you cannot bend the rule, at least do not pretend the outcome is just.