Slamming 'casual observations', Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Wednesday closed suo motu proceedings the Supreme Court had initiated over alleged objectionable comments made by a Karnataka High Court judge during court proceedings.
Closing the proceedings, a five-judge bench headed by CJI Chandrachud noted that Karnataka High Court judge Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda, who had made those observations, had on September 21 tendered an apology for his comments in the open court there.
What Did The Karnataka HC Judge Say
The Supreme Court had on September 20 taken suo motu cognisance of the high court judge's alleged objectionable comments against a woman lawyer during the court proceedings in a case.
During the hearing in another case, the same high court judge had refered to a Muslim-majority area in Karnataka's Bengaluru as "Pakistan".
In the first instance, videos of which went viral on social media, Justice Srishananda was seen reprimanding a woman lawyer and reportedly made some objectionable comments when she intervened in an ongoing hearing.
The judge can be seen telling the woman advocate that she seemed to know a lot about the opposing party, adding that she might even be able to identify the colour of their “undergarments”.
Sharing the video on microblogging platform X, senior advocate Indira Jaising, “We call upon the Chief Justice of India to take suo moto action against this judge and send him for gender sensitisation training.”
"At this stage, we request the Registrar General of the High Court of Karnataka to submit a report to this court after seeking administrative directions of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka, in regard to the subject matter which has been referred to above," the apex court had said on September 20.
In the second instance, Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda referred to a Muslim-dominated locality in Bengaluru as "Pakistan" while hearing a case related to a landlord-tenant dispute on August 28.
“Go towards the Mysore Road Flyover, every autorickshaw has got 10 people… The Mysore Road Flyover from the market to Goripalya is in Pakistan, not in India. This is the reality… However strict an officer you send, he will be beaten. This is not on any channel,” Indian Express quoted Justice Srishananda as saying.
What SC Said
Before closing the proceedings on Wednesday, September 25, the Supreme Court bench said that "casual observations may well reflect a certain degree of individual bias particularly when they are likely to be perceived as being directed to a particular gender or community".
Reacting to the judge's comment Bengaluru, CJI Chandrachud observed, "We can't call any part of the territory of India as Pakistan".
The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy, observed that courts have to be careful not to make comments in the course of judicial proceedings which may be construed as being misogynistic or for that matter prejudicial to any segment of the society.
