Supreme Court Takes Note of HC Judge Shekhar Kumar Yadav’s Communal Speech at VHP Event

Supreme Court Takes Note of HC Judge Shekhar Yadav’s Communal Speech at VHP Event

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken note of reports about a communal speech delivered by an Allahabad high court judge at an event organised by the extremist Hindutva body, Vishva Hindu Parishad.

The apex court announced in a press release that it has taken note of Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav’s speech. “The details and particulars have been called from the High Court and the matter is under consideration,” it said.

Justice Yadav, as The Wire has reported in detail, had said that India would function only as per the wishes of the “majority,” referring to the Hindu community. He even used the controversial term “kathmulla” to refer to a section of Muslims who engaged in practices such as having four wives and triple talaq, describing them as “fatal” to the nation.

The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) today (December 10) also wrote to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna urging an “in-house enquiry” to be conducted on the matter, by a committee formed for the purpose.

CJAR letter

The CJAR said that Justice Yadav’s conduct in attending the event and delivering the controversial speech has “raised doubts in the minds of average citizens about the independence and neutrality of the judiciary, given the wide coverage it has received, a strong institutional response is needed.”…

https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-allahabad-high-court-shekhar-kumar-yadav-speech

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Harish Khare

It certainly cannot be a mere coincidence that two sitting judges of the Allahabad High Court should have allowed themselves to be persuaded to share a Vishwa Hindu Parishad platform. And judging from the tone and tenor of one of the two judge’s intemperate remarks on the VHP stage, not much persuasion was needed. To add insult to injury, the High Court’s premises were at the VHP’s disposal.

While Justice Dinesh Pathak inaugurated the VHP show, it was his colleague, Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav who stole the show with his diatribe. According to The Hindu, the hon’ble High Court judge made the most sweeping and most definitive declaration: “I feel no hesitation in saying that this is India, and it will run as per the wishes of its majority.”

Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav spoke of “we” (the Hindus) and “you” (the Muslims). He even used the derogatory expression “Kathmullah” for the members of the minority community. If any other civilian or politician had made the same utterances, he would have been held guilty of making a hate speech….

https://thewire.in/law/hindutva-jurisprudence-and-a-gauntlet-thrown-down-at-chief-justice-khanna

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Extract from Franz Neumann, Behemoth, The Structure and Practice of National Socialism; (1936)

(The counter revolution) ‘…tried many forms and devices, but soon learned that it could come to power only with the help of the state machine and never against it… the Kapp Putsch of 1920 and the Hitler Pustch of 1923 had proved this.. In the centre of the counter revolution stood the judiciary. Unlike administrative acts, which rest on considerations of convenience and expediency, judicial decisions rest on law, that is on right and wrong, and they always enjoy the limelight of publicity. Law is perhaps the most pernicious of all weapons in political struggles, precisely because of the halo that surrounds the concepts of right and justice…

‘Right’, Hocking has said, ‘is psychologically a claim whose infringement is met with a resentment deeper than the injury would satisfy, a resentment that may amount to passion for which men will risk life and property as they would never do for an expediency’. When it becomes ‘political’, justice breeds hatred and despair among those it singles out for attack. Those whom it favours, on the other hand, develop a profound contempt for the very value of justice, they know that it can be purchased by the powerful. As a device for strengthening one political group at the expense of others, for eliminating enemies and assisting political allies, law then threatens the fundamental convictions upon which the tradition of our civilization rests..

Franz Neumann, Behemoth, The Structure and Practice of National Socialism; (1936, repub 1963, p 27).

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