New Delhi: A five judge bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday said “no part of India can be called Pakistan” and requested judges to desist from making causal observations during court proceedings which are seen to be misogynistic or prejudicial to a section of the society.
This observation from the a bench of top five judges of the court came while hearing a suo motu proceedings with respect to a Karnataka high court judge, Justice V Srishananada, who had made some comments against women and section of the society calling some part of India as Pakistan.
The video of the judge making these comments on June 6 and August 28 this year had gone viral on the social media. In the first video, making comment during a proceedings on traffic situation on Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, the judge referred to the Muslim dominated area near the highway as Pakistan.
While in another video, the judge is seen to be making a gender insensitive comment against a woman lawyer where he is saying that,tomorrow the woman lawyer who claims to know everything, may also claim to know the colour of the under garment of the lawyer opposing him.” Following which the Supreme Court had instituted a suo motu proceeding in the matter.
The Supreme Court bench closed the proceedings in the matter after it went through a report submitted by the registrar general of the Karanataka high court, which said that the remarks by the judge were unintentional and not meant to hurt anyone. Moreover, the Karnataka high court judges, has on September 21 submitted an apology in the court for his remarks before members of the bar. `
But the five judge bench also voiced its opinion on the comments made by the High court judges saying that “we cannot call any territory of India as Pakistan” on the Pakistan comment of the High court judge.
While the Supreme court accepted the apology by the high court judge, it went on to express its concern on such incidents in the era when court proceedings are given wide publicity on the internet.
The court said, ‘perception of judiciary to every section of society is important. Such observations are liable to be construed in negative light against not only the judge but the wider judicial system. There has to be a modulation of behaviour on part of bar and bench in future.”
The court also advised judges to be aware of their predispositions, as the heart and soul of judging to be fair and objective.
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