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On Tuesday, the Madras High Court added five new additional judges, including Lekshmana Victoria Gowri, 49, an assistant solicitor general who sits on the Madurai bench and has been accused of hate speech and objectionable remarks against minorities in recent years.
At the time of the swearing-in event, the Supreme Court was hearing petitions against her elevation to the high court. By the time the swearing-in was over, the hearing before the Supreme Court had already dismissed the petitions against her.
Besides Gowri, Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Kandhasami Kulandaivelu Ramakrishnan, Ramachandran Kalaimathi, and K Govindarajan Thilakavadi were all sworn in by acting Chief Justice T Raja.
A group of Tamil Nadu lawyers objected to the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation last month for Gowri’s elevation, citing her prior ties to the BJP and purported instances of hate speech, with YouTube links to video interviews and articles published for ‘Organiser’. While they wrote to the Supreme Court Collegium and the President of India, another group of lawyers based in Madurai submitted a letter in her support, praising how hard she worked as a woman lawyer.
Gowri said that about three months before she took over as assistant solicitor general in September 2020 in Madurai, where there is a bench of the Madras High Court, she had resigned from all BJP posts and also the party membership.
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