Supreme Court accepts apology over 'Pakistan remark', closes matter against Karnataka HC judge

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted an apology tendered by the Karnataka High Court’s Justice V Srishananda on his controversial remarks and closed the suo moto proceedings initiated against him.

Two videos had gone viral on social media on the controversial remarks made by Justice V Srishananda during judicial proceedings.

In One video Justice Srishananda refers to a Muslim-majority sub-locality in West Bengaluru as "Pakistan." In the other video, he reprimands a woman lawyer for responding to a question addressed to opposing counsel, saying that she might even reveal the colour of the opposite party’s undergarments.

The Five judge Bench of the Apex Court, comprising Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice B R Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, and Justice Hrishikesh Roy, said, "Bearing in mind the apology tendered by the judge of the High Court on September 21, 2024, in open court, we consider in the interest of justice and dignity of the institution to not pursue these proceedings further."

The bench said that they had consciously desisted from issuing notice to the judge of the High Court in the matter.

After the Apex Court had taken suo moto cognizance of the above events, Justice V Srishananda presided over on September 21, and in the post-lunch session tendered an apology in the open court.

Justice V Srishananda read out an apology in the open court in the presence of the bar. He confessed that some observations quoted by him were out of context.

He apologized and said these were unintentional and not intended to hurt the feelings of any section of society.

The CJI said that the necessity in Covid-19, live streaming and video conferencing has emerged for providing access to justice. "The prevalence and reach of social media have included wide reporting. Most High Courts have adopted live streaming or videoconferencing,” he said.

The CJI said, "The lawyers, judges, and members of the court should understand that live streaming has significant reach to the audiences. This places responsibility on lawyers, judges, and litigants appearing in court for the conduct having a wider impact."

"As judges, the dispositions based on our life experiences are there; at the same time, a judge has to be aware of his pre-dispositions, it is only based on such awareness we can be faithful in duty to deliver objectiveness and fairness. Casual observations can indicate a degree of bias, particularly when they are directed against a gender or community,” the CJI said.

“But the answer to sunlight is more sunlight, not to suppress,” the CJI said.

On September 20, the top court had taken suo moto cognizance of the controversial remarks made by Justice V Srishananda, following the circulation of two viral videos on social media.

The Bench had sought a status report from the Registrar of the High Court. It also sought the assistance of Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani and Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta in the matter.

The videos in question depict Justice Srishananda making two controversial remarks during judicial proceedings

The CJI remarked, "Seeing the nature of the observations, we can't call any part/territory of India Pakistan; that's fundamentally contrary to the territorial integrity of the nation. Social media can't be controlled.

The SG submitted, "Sometimes we also say things; the thing is, we are all under the gaze of the public now. We have to be a little careful now. There is no point, to stretch this forward."

The Court noted that the Registrar General has submitted a duly transcribed transcript of the hearings of June 6 and August 28, 2024.

The videos in question depict Justice Srishananda making two controversial remarks during judicial proceedings.