The Supreme Court bench closed the suo motu proceedings accepting the apology expressed by the judge.
Published Sep 25, 2024 | 2:02 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 25, 2024 | 2:02 PM
Supreme Court. (iStock)
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Wednesday, 25 September, called for more transparency in the court proceedings, in response to the Karnataka High Court barring unauthorised sharing of videos from livestreaming of proceedings.
The remarks were made during the hearing of the suo motu case taken over the remarks made by Justice V Srishananda of the Karnataka High Court which stirred up a controversy after the video clips went viral on social media.
The judge in one video referred to a certain locality in Bengaluru as Pakistan, and in another video made objectionable remarks towards a woman advocate during a court hearing.
According to Livelaw, the CJI noted that the answer to controversies erupting due to the circulation of objectionable remarks made by judges should not be to shut the live streaming, “Answer to sunlight is more sunlight. Not to suppress what happens in the court. This is a very important reminder to everyone. The answer is not to close doors and shut down.”
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday barred the unauthorised sharing of videos from the livestreaming of court proceedings by media agencies and individuals.
A single judge bench of Justice Hemant Chandangoudar said, “Till next date, respondents R6 to R8 [YouTube, Facebook and X] are restrained from sharing live-streamed videos and R9 to R13 [some media agencies] are restrained from displaying the videos on their channels. They (R6 to R8) are directed to delete the videos live-streamed on channels posted in violation of rules.”
Advocates Association Bengaluru had filed a petition seeking direction to the Union government to pass orders restraining individuals, video-makers, media agencies etc. from illegally using the live-streamed videos of court proceedings after two video clips of Justice V Srishananda surfaced on social media.
A bench comprising CJI Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy closed the suo motu proceedings accepting the apology expressed by the judge.
However, the CJI made strong observations regarding the need for judges to avoid casual remarks that are misogynistic or prejudicial to any community.
Referring to the remark made by the judge regarding a locality in Bengaluru, the CJI said, “You can’t call any part of the territory of India as ‘Pakistan’. It is fundamentally contrary to the territorial integrity of the nation”
“Casual observations may well reflect a certain degree of individual bias particularly when they are likely to be perceived as being directed against a particular gender or community. Courts therefore have to be careful not to make comments in the course of judicial proceedings which may be construed as being misogynistic or prejudicial to any segment of our society,” the bench observed in the order according to Livelaw.
Taking note of the judge’s apology, the Supreme Court bench closed the proceedings, and noted, “The learned judge has indicated that (1) certain observations made by him were quoted out of context in the social context, (2) the observations were unintentional and were not intended to hurt any individual or section of the society, (3) an apology is tendered if any individual or section of the society has been directly or indirectly hurt. Bearing in mind the contrived apology which has been tendered by the judge of the high court in the course of open court proceeding, we consider in the interest of justice and dignity of justice to not pursue the proceedings further.”
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula)
