SC takes suo motu cognisance of HC judge’s ‘Pak’ reference, remarks on woman lawyer

The Supreme Court on Friday (September 20) took suo motu cognisance of alleged controversial and objectionable comments made by a Karnataka High Court judge about a Muslim-majority area in Bengaluru and against a woman lawyer during court proceedings.

Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda of the Karnataka High Court while dealing with a landlord-tenant dispute during a recent court hearing allegedly referred to a Muslim-majority locality in Bengaluru as “Pakistan” and passed a misogynistic comment about a woman lawyer.

The video of the judge’s comments went viral on social media.

SC seeks report from HC

A five-judge SC bench comprising senior judges, including Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, assembled on Friday morning to take cognisance of the comments made by Justice Srishananda during judicial proceedings.

The bench sought a report from the high court on the comments of the judge.

"Attention has been drawn to media reports on the comments made by Justice...of Karnataka High Court during the court proceedings. We request the Karnataka High Court to submit a report after seeking instructions from the Chief Justice of the high court," the CJI said.

"We may lay down some basic guidelines," the bench, which also comprised Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy, said.

The CJI said this exercise of filing a report may be carried out in the next two days and the report be filed with the secretary general of the apex court. The plea is now fixed for hearing on Wednesday.

Viral video

In a viral video of the court proceedings, the judge was seen reprimanding a woman lawyer on Thursday (September 19) and passed some comments at her that came across as misogynistic.

In the video, the judge is reportedly heard telling the woman lawyer that she seemed to know a lot about the opposition party, so much so that she can even reveal the colour of their undergarments. 

Senior advocate Indira Jaising took to 'X' to urge the CJI to take suo motu judicial note of the comments.

(With inputs from agencies)