New Delhi: Two sitting judges of the Allahabad High Court, Justices Dinesh Pathak and Shekhar Kumar Yadav participated in an event organised by right-wing organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s legal cell Sunday.
The event was held within the high court premises, in the library hall of the Allahabad HC. Justices Pathak and Yadav were a part of the event, which saw discussion on the waqf law, the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and on the reasons and prevention of religious conversion.
Justice Yadav had earlier, in 2021, urged the central government to bring a law for protection of cows, and to declare the cow as the national animal. Protection of cows should be declared a fundamental right of Hindus, he had suggested.
Speaking to ThePrint, senior advocate Indira Jaising said, “This is a gross violation of the secular principles of the constitution by the judiciary itself. The same judiciary which swears by secularism and the constitution is disrespecting its own judgments.”
“It’s very offensive to other communities,” she added.
Condemning the event, Jaising had tweeted, “What a shame for a sitting judge to actively participate in an event Organised by a Hindu organization on its political agenda.”
However, speaking to ThePrint, VHP International President Alok Kumar said, “As far as former judges are concerned, we do meet them, interact with them and request them to work for Hindutva. As far as sitting judges are concerned, sometimes we invite them to address a specific topic as a faculty and we do not expect them to participate in any VHP activity.”
The legal cell of the VHP was revamped a few years ago to make it more interactive.
“Now we have asked our legal cells to organise events to create awareness on public issues and we call all intellectuals in that…As far as Adhivakta parishad (affiliated to the RSS) is concerned, judges have been addressing functions like these in a routine manner,” he said.
“It’s not a hush matter, they organise such events openly,” Kumar added.
On Indira Jaising’s comment, the VHP president said: “Some of the ultra-modern academicians still treat the word Hindu as outcast. Democracy does not work in iron chambers and interventions should be welcomed,” he added.
Speaking to ThePrint, Senior Advocate Rebecca John, said she was “saddened” by the judges’ participation in the event.
“I grew up in a secular republic, and I feel very saddened. The court is my workplace, it’s from where ordinary citizens expect justice. When we have open alliances with organisations which are opposed to the secular fabric of India, and when sitting judges participate in such events, it’s an assault on the constitution,” she said.
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The event
The event was to begin with the “lighting of lamps and blessings” by Justice Dinesh Pathak.
This was to be followed by a lecture on the waqf law, by advocate Abhishek Arrey, national co-convener of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Legal Cell, and senior advocate Anil Tiwari, president of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association.
The next lecture—on ‘Reasons and Prevention of religious conversion’—was delivered by senior advocate and former president of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association, V.P. Srivastava, along with government Advocate A.K. Sand.
The third lecture on the UCC was to be delivered by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, and senior advocate and former president of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association, Radhakant Ojha. This lecture was on Union Civil Code being a “Constitutional imperative”.
In September this year, 30 former judges, including two retired Supreme Court judges, had reportedly attended VHP legal cell’s event on judicial reforms. The VHP functionaries had termed it as a closed-door meeting.
Last year in April, Vidhi Prakoshtha, the legal cell had also passed a resolution against same-sex marriage and had pointed out that the “haste’ in which the Supreme Court was hearing petitions for legal recognition was not appropriate.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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The sitting judge openly called members of a minority community, ‘ K@thmullas’ , said that this community is hampering our development and that their taught intolerance which is bizarrely referring to sacrifise of animals during Eid
Conveniently leaving these comments by a sitting judge out and simply printing objections to thus event by lawyers Indira Jaisingh and Rebecca John shows that you want to portray their objections to a Hindu organization organizing these activities not the fact that unbecoming language was used by a sitting judge.