SC acts suo motu in case of remarks by Ktka HC judge; seeks report from HC's Registrar General

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has taken a 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.

"In this age of social media, proceedings are closely and keenly watched and thus we have to act accordingly," the bench said.

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

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.

In her posts on X, senior advocate Indira Jaising had taken an umbrage over the clips of the proceedings conducted by the judge 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 was 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.