SC warns courts across the country to avoid making hateful comments against women
New Delhi : The Supreme Court has forgiven the Karnataka High Court judge who called the Muslim-dominated area Pakistan. The Supreme Court clearly said that no part of the country can be called Pakistan. The judge had also made indecent remarks against a female lawyer. The Supreme Court said that Justice V Srishanand has apologized. Therefore, this matter is closed here. A bench of Chief Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Suryakant and Hrishikesh Roy asked the courts to be cautious against making such comments which are considered hateful towards women or against a particular gender or community. The court also said that no part of India can be called Pakistan.
The Supreme Court made strong comments while closing the proceedings of the case initiated on its own initiative on the objectionable remarks of a judge of the Karnataka High Court during the court proceedings. The Supreme Court also said that the High Court judge had apologized for his comments during the hearing in open court. On September 21, he has written a letter to the Registrar General of the High Court in this regard. Since Justice Srishanand was not a party to the proceedings before it, we refrain from making any comment except expressing our serious concern in reference to any gender or any section of the community.
The court said that casual comments during the proceedings may reflect some degree of personal bias, especially when they are considered against the gender or community. Therefore, the courts should be cautious that such comments are not made during judicial processes, which can be considered misogynistic or prejudiced against any section of the society. Referring to a report submitted by the Registrar General of the Karnataka High Court, the court said that it clearly indicates that the comments made during the hearing were unrelated to the proceedings and it was better to avoid them. After the court’s order was pronounced, Attorney General R Venkataramani referred to some messages received on X regarding comments and described them as completely vitriolic. The CJI said that now you have seen the nature of the comments. We cannot call any part of India Pakistan. Because it is fundamentally against the territorial integrity of the country.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that social media cannot be controlled and the secrecy associated with it makes it very dangerous. On this, the CJI said – But let me tell you that covering up any wrong thing is not a solution but it should be faced. He said that the answer to this is not to remain narrow-minded. The court said that the reach of social media has included extensive reporting of court proceedings and most of the high courts of the country have now adopted rules for live streaming or video conference. The court said that all parties involved in the judicial process, including judges, lawyers and litigants, must be cautious that access to the hearing taking place in the court is not just limited to the people present there but is also available to other spectators.
