Karnataka High Court judge refers to Muslim-majority Bengaluru area as 'Pakistan'; Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance

The suo motu case has been initiated after Justice V Srishananda referred to a Muslim-majority area in Bengaluru as 'Pakistan'.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of videos of Karnataka High Court judge making some "gratuitous" remarks during the hearing of cases and sought a report from the High Court's Registrar General.

A five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said the court may lay down guidelines in this regard saying in this age of social media, proceedings are closely watched and thus we have to act accordingly.

"Our attention has been drawn to some comment made Karnataka HC judge Justice V Srishananda during conduct of judicial proceedings," the bench said.

The court asked Attorney General R Venkatramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to assist the court.

The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy, asked the Registrar General of the HC To submit a report to this court after seeking administrative directions from the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising had on September 19, 2024 highlighted the clip of the proceedings conducted by the judge concerned in a post on X and called upon the Chief Justice of India to take suo moto action against the judge and send him for gender sensitisation training.

Justice Srishananda had purportedly referred to a Muslim dominated locality in Bengaluru as "Pakistan". The judge had also seen to have made gender insensitive comments against a woman lawyer in a separate matter. Several handles on X objected to his remarks in their posts.