Blitz Bureau
DAYS after Members of Parliament (MPs) submitted an impeachment motion against Allahabad High Court Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav for his controversial remarks, a plea has been filed before the Allahabad High Court challenging the motion, according to Bar and Bench.
Advocate Asok Pande has approached the court seeking a direction to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to refrain from acting on the motion filed by Kapil Sibal and 54 other MPs against Justice Yadav.
Justice Yadav’s controversial remarks were made during a speech at a recent event organised by the legal cell of the right-wing organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
The judge had made contentious statements against the Muslim community and had stated that India will function as per the wishes of the majority community. He had also used the term “kathmullah”, which is used as a slur against Muslims. According to Pandey, the term Kathmullah used by Justice Yadav in his speech does not qualify as hate speech.
“As an advocate and judge, he may have been aware of how Kathamullapan is preventing Muslim girls from attending school and college or how Muslim women are being compelled to wear the Hijab and Burqa by Kathamullas. He could be expressing grievance against the Kathamullapan of certain Muslims who, by standing with Babar, obstructed the construction of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple for a long time and continue to align with the actions of Aurangzeb at the Shri Kashi Vishwanath temple and the temple at Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi,” the plea asserts. The motion has alleged that the speech delivered by Justice Yadav prima facie constitutes hate speech and incitement to communal disharmony, in violation of the Constitution of India.
