‘This is the era of social media, keep prejudices away…’, Supreme Court reprimanded the judge for his/her ‘Pakistan’ comment

New Delhi : The dispute was between the landlord and the tenant. The hearing was going on in the Karnataka High Court. During the hearing, Justice Vedvyasachar Srishanand of the Karnataka High Court called the ‘Muslim-dominated’ area of ​​Bengaluru as Pakistan. The Supreme Court itself took cognizance of the comment. Then the judge had to apologize and now finally the Supreme Court closed the proceedings in this case. CJI DY Chandrachud commented on Wednesday that no part of the country can be called Pakistan, it is against the integrity of the country. A 5-judge bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice BR Gavai, Justice Suryakant and Justice Rishikesh Roy warned the judges and lawyers that while discharging their posts, they should ensure that their personal bias is not reflected. The Karnataka High Court had also spoken to a female lawyer in objectionable language.

The bench said, “We cannot call any part of India Pakistan as it is fundamentally against the integrity of the country.” However, after the High Court judge apologised for his/her statement, the apex court closed the suo motu proceedings in the case.

The apex court said, ‘This careless comment reflects personal prejudices, especially when it is considered to be directed towards a certain gender or community. Therefore, patriarchal or negative comments towards women should be avoided. We express our serious concern about the comments made on a certain gender or community and such comments should be taken negatively.’

The court said that in the age of social media, any comment made by judges can have far-reaching implications, and hence judges must be aware of their biases to deliver justice impartially.

The court said, “The spread and reach of social media has involved extensive reporting of court proceedings. Most of the High Courts in the country have now adopted rules for conducting live-streaming or video conferencing which emerged as a necessity during the corona pandemic… All parties, judges, lawyers, litigants must be aware that the proceedings reach an audience which is far beyond the physical boundary of the court and as such all must be aware of the wider impact of comments on the community. As judges we are conscious of the fact that every individual has a set of prejudices based on experiences early or later in life. It is important that a judge is aware of his/her own prejudices, and a judge has heart and soul only when they are impartial and only then can we deliver objective justice.”

Two videos of Justice Sreesanand of the Karnataka High Court went viral on social media. In one video, he/she was seen calling a Muslim-dominated area of ​​West Bengaluru ‘Pakistan’. In another video, he/she was seen reprimanding a female lawyer for answering a question asked by the opposite party’s lawyer. The judge was seen jokingly telling the woman lawyer that it seems she knows a lot about the opposite party, and she can even tell the color of their undergarments next time.

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance of these comments made by the judge and sought a report from the Karnataka High Court on this. After the apex court took cognizance, the judge apologized.