BENGALURU: Justice V Srishananda, Judge of the Karnataka High Court, in an open court statement on Saturday, 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.
His regret came a day after the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of his controversial ‘Pakistan’ and ‘undergarments’ comments and sought a report from the Registrar General of the High Court.
Reading out a statement prior to resuming the hearing on Saturday afternoon, Justice Srishananda said that a few observations made during judicial proceedings were reported out of context on social media platforms. The observations were unintentional and not to hurt any individual or any section of society or community.
On an observation of ‘undergarment’ made before a woman advocate during court proceedings which is a part of the controversy, he said that if she was in the court, he would have clarified that it was not to her, but to her client.
Advocates’ Association of Bengaluru (AAB) president Vivek Subba Reddy, who was present in the court along with other office-bearers of AAB and several advocates, told Justice Srishananda, “Your judgments are excellent, but your lordship’s side ‘kathas’ and ‘upakathas’ during the hearing are what affecting lawyers too when they are live streamed, though the side stories are interesting to listen to.”
AAB office-bearers then pleaded that YouTubers posting clips of live streaming with wrong and misleading headlines and taglines is affecting lawyers. The Registrar General and Registrar-Judicial should control such YouTubers, they requested in the open court.