New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday (September 20) took suo motu note of the controversial comments made by a judge of the Karnataka high court and sought a report from the Karnataka high court registrar general for the same.
The judge’s remarks wherein he referred to a Muslim-majority locality in Bengaluru as ‘Pakistan’ has sparked outrage on social media, reported Bar and bench.
“Our attention has been drawn to some comment made Karnataka High Court judge Justice V Srishananda during conduct of judicial proceedings. We have asked the AG and SG to assist us. We ask the registrar general of the High Court to submit a report to this court after seeking administrative directions from the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. This exercise may be carried out in 2 weeks,” a bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy said on Friday (September 20).
“In this age of social media proceedings are closely watched and thus we have to act accordingly,” the CJI said.
The judge, Justice V. Srishananda, had recently said that the Gori Palya locality in Bengaluru was in Pakistan, not in India.
Justice Srishananda had made the remarks while hearing a matter related to insurance in open court.
“Go to that Mysuru Road flyover. Every auto rickshaw has got 10 people. It is not applicable because the Mysore flyover right up to the flower market from Gori Palya is in Pakistan, not in India. This is the reality. This is the reality. No matter how strict police officer you put there, they will be beaten up there,” Justice Srishananda is heard saying in a video clip of the hearing that has gone viral on social media.
The observations were made by Justice Srishananda on August 28 when he was discussing a lease agreement pertaining to the Rent Control Act.
In the same context, the judge went on to discuss amendments required in the Rent Control Act and Motor Vehicles Act.
Thereafter he was discussing traffic regulations and foreign countries where vehicles have to abide by strict traffic rules when he made the Pakistan reference.
Earlier, Justice Srishananda also courted controversy after another video of him went viral wherein he was seen making objectionable comments about a woman lawyer.
In the video, he can be heard telling the woman lawyer that she seemed to know a lot about the “opposition party”, so much so that she might be able to reveal the colour of their undergarments, reported NDTV.
