Summary
In a suo motu proceeding on remarks made by a Karnataka High Court judge in live-streamed hearings (a comment to a woman advocate and a reference to an area of Bengaluru as being 'in Pakistan'), the Court accepted the judge's open-court regret and closed the matter. It cautioned that, with live streaming, judges and lawyers must avoid casual remarks that may be read as misogynistic or prejudicial to any community.
Issues
- Whether the suo motu proceedings on the High Court judge's remarks during court proceedings should be pursued after he expressed regret in open court.
- What care judges, lawyers and litigants must take in their conduct of proceedings now that hearings are live-streamed and widely seen.
Held
- The Court deliberately did not issue notice to the High Court judge, to preserve the institutional dignity of the High Courts, and in view of the regret he expressed in open court on 21 September 2024 it decided not to pursue the proceedings further. (¶¶ 11, 12, 13)
- Live streaming and video conferencing have become important tools for access to justice, but they carry proceedings far beyond the courtroom. Judges, lawyers and parties in person must therefore conduct hearings conscious of the wide and immediate impact of casual observations on the public. (¶ 14)
- Impartiality is the core of judging. Every judge carries predispositions formed by experience and must be aware of them in order to exclude them from decision-making; the only values that should guide decisions are those in the Constitution. (¶ 15)
- Casual observations often reveal individual bias, especially when they may be seen as aimed at a gender or community. Courts must avoid comments that may be construed as misogynistic or prejudicial to any segment of society. The remarks here were unrelated to the proceedings and should have been avoided, since the perception of justice matters as much as justice itself. (¶¶ 16, 17, 18)
- As the judge was not a party, the Court made no further observations beyond expressing serious concern at the references to gender and to a section of the community, and expressed the hope that both Bench and Bar would adjust their conduct to the demands of the electronic age. (¶¶ 18, 19)
Result
Suo motu proceedings concluded with observations; pending applications disposed of.