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Woman judge gets appointed to Madras HC but lawyers move Supreme Court. Why?
The lawyers cited Victoria Gowri's alleged statements against minorities in the past and claimed Gowri's elevation will dent the independence of the judiciary.
A group of lawyers in Chennai have approached the Supreme Court against the Collegium's recommendation for the elevation of advocate Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri as a judge of the Madras high court. Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Monday agreed to list the matter on Friday. The lawyers moved the apex court even as the Centre cleared the appointment of Gowri as an additional judge of the Madras high court.
“As per relevant provisions under the Constitution of India, the following Advocates and Judicial Officers are appointed as Additional Judges of Allahabad High Court, Karnataka High Court and Madras High Court. I extend my best wishes to all of them,” Union law minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted.
The lawyers cited Gowri's alleged statements against minorities in the past and claimed Gowri's elevation will dent the independence of the judiciary.
The collegium, comprising Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and KM Joseph, had proposed the names of Gowri and four other lawyers for elevation to the high court on January 17.
In separate letters addressed to President Droupadi Murmu and the Supreme Court collegium, the members of the Madras High Court (HC) Bar Council objected to the collegium’s recommendation saying her appointment would undermine the independence of the judiciary.
They alleged the recommendation to elevate advocate Gowri “dents the independence of the judiciary”, and substantiated their statement with two interviews given by Gowri.
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.
Gowri, by her own admission, is the general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party Mahila Morch, the memorandum signed by 22 lawyers including senior advocates N G R Prasad, R Vaigai, Anna Mathew, D Nagasaila and Sudha Ramalingam, said, reported news agency PTI.
