‘No one can call any part of India as Pakistan’: CJI Chandrachud slams Karnataka HC judge’s remark

The bench headed by CJI Chandrachud also underscored the need for decorum and restraint from judges in the digital age

The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed proceedings against Karnataka High Court Judge Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda, following his public apology for   referring to a Muslim-significant area in Bengaluru, Gori Palya, as “Pakistan”.

While addressing a landlord-tenant dispute, Justice Srishananda referred to Gori Palya as "Pakistan" and made a “misogynistic” comment involving a woman advocate. His comments, which went viral on social media, prompted the Supreme Court to seek a report from the Karnataka High Court, which was submitted shortly after the incident.

"No one can call any part of territory of India as Pakistan," Chief Justice Chandrachud said. "It is fundamentally against the territorial integrity of the nation. The answer to sunlight is more sunlight and not to suppress what happens in court. The answer is not to close it down,” said Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, leading a five-judge bench.

The bench also underscored the need for decorum and restraint from judges in the digital age when court proceedings are frequently live-streamed and closely watched.

The bench also issued a detailed order warning that “casual observations” by judges may reflect a certain degree of individual bias, particularly when they appear to be directed against a gender or community.  "One must be wary of making patriarchal or misogynistic comments. We express our serious concern about observations on a certain gender or a community and such observations are liable to be construed in a negative light. We hope and trust that the responsibilities entrusted to all stakeholders are discharged without bias and caution," CJI Chandrachud said.

On September 20, the bench had ordered a report from the Karnataka high court registry over two videos of Srishananda showing him making certain “gratuitous comments”.

The video clips evoked criticism on social media. Prominent lawyers, including Indira Jaising and Sanjoy Ghose, condemned the judge’s comments. Jaising had posted the video clip on her X account on September 19, saying that justice Srishananda should be trained on gender sensitisation.

“We call upon the Chief Justice of India to take suo motu action against this judge and send him for gender sensitisation training,” Jaising wrote on X.

A day after the Supreme Court took up the matter, Justice Srishananda said his observations were unintentional, but they were reported out of context on social media platforms.

“I express my sincere regrets if they hurt any individual or any section of the society or community,” he said on September 21.