On Wednesday, the Supreme Court declared that no area of Indian territory can be referred to as Pakistan and advised courts not to make remarks that could be interpreted as “misogynistic” or directed towards a specific “gender or community”. As it concluded the suo motu hearings regarding Karnataka High Court judge Justice V Srishananda’s allegedly offensive remarks made during court proceedings, the Supreme Court made its strong observations. The Supreme Court further observed that he had expressed regret for his remarks made on September 21 during open court.
Since Justice Srishananda was not a party to the proceedings before it, the five-judge bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud noted that “we desist from making any further observations save and except to express our serious concern about both the gender reference and to a segment of the community.”
On September 20, the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of a judge’s remarks made against a female attorney during a court hearing in one case, and his calling a Bengaluru neighbourhood with a majority of Muslims “Pakistan” in another.
“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,” the bench said.
“Courts, therefore, 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 our society,” it stated.
The bench cited the report’s contents, which was sent to them by the Karnataka High Court’s registrar general, as evidence that the observations made during the proceedings there were irrelevant and ought to have been avoided.
“The perception of justice to every segment of society is as important as the rendition of justice as an objective fact,” it stated.
“Such observations are liable to be construed in a negative light, thereby impacting not only the court of the judge who expresses them but the wider judicial system,” it stated.
Attorney General R Venkataramani pointed to some messages on X regarding the remarks and called them “absolutely vitriolic” after the bench dictated the order in the courtroom.
“You can now see how the observations are made. No area of Indian territory may be referred to as Pakistan. Because that is inherently incompatible with the nation’s geographical integrity,” the CJI noted.