SC Agrees to Hear Plea Challenging Madras HC Woman Judge's Appointment, But Why Did Lawyers Approach Top Court? Details

After several lawyers in Chennai approached the Supreme Court challenging lawyer L Victoria Gowri’s appointment as the judge of Madras High Court, the top court on Monday agreed to hear their plea on February 7.

According to a PTI report, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala took note of the submissions made that claimed the plea needed an urgent hearing.

But why did the Chennai lawyers challenge Gowri’s appointment?

The plea challenging L Victoria Gowri’s appointment as Madras HC judge was submitted by senior advocate Raju Ramachandran. Her appointment first took a controversial turn after reports emerged about her alleged affiliation to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

Besides, the lawyers cited Gowri’s alleged statements against minorities in the past and claimed that her elevation will dent the independence of the judiciary, a Hindustan Times report stated.

Some statements of the lawyer, who was proposed for the judgeship, about Muslims and Christians have purportedly surfaced in the public domain.

In the petition, advocate Ramachandran pleaded it was an urgent. “They (several lawyers) are praying for interim relief. I would request you to take it at the earliest,” the senior lawyer said.

The bench, which initially agreed to list the plea for hearing on February 13, later said it will hear it on February 10.

Gowri’s name along with four other lawyers for elevation to high court was recommended by a collegium, comprising Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and KM Joseph. The recommendations were made on January 17.

Later, the members of the Madras High Court (HC) Bar Council objected to the collegium’s recommendation in separate letters addressed to President Droupadi Murmu and the SC collegium.

In order to substantial their claims, the advocates cited youtube links of her two interviews captioned “The more threat to national security and Peace? Jihad or Christian Missionary? and Cultural genocide by Christian Missionaries in Bharat – Victoria Gowri.” They also cited an article titled “Aggressive baptising destroying social harmony” published on October 1, 2012 in a RSS publication.

Read all the Latest India News here