Judge’s anti-Muslim remarks: Oppn MPs start signing on notice for impeachment

Among those who have already signed include the Congress’s Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh and Vivek Tankha; AAP’s Sanjay Singh; TMC’s Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghose; RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha; SP’s Javed Ali Khan; CPI(M)’s John Brittas and the CPI’s Sandosh Kumar.

The notice seeks initiation of proceedings for impeachment of Justice Yadav under section 3 (1) (B) of The Judges (Inquiry) Act read with Article 124 (4) and Article 124 (5) of the Constitution. As per the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968, a complaint against a judge has to be made through a resolution signed at least by 100 members if moved in Lok Sabha and by 50 MPs if initiated in Rajya Sabha.

Sources in the Opposition camp said they will attach video clips and transcripts of Justice Yadav’s controversial speech along with links of news articles on it.

Once the MPs submit the motion, the presiding officer of the House can either accept or reject it. If accepted, a three-member committee, comprising two judges and a jurist, is constituted to probe the complaint and determine if it is a case fit for initiating the process of impeachment.

The committee includes one judge from the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of a High Court if the complaint is against a High Court judge, or two Supreme Court judges if the complaint is against a sitting judge of the apex court.

As Article 124 (4) of the Constitution says, the motion for impeachment “has to be supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-third of the members of the House present and voting” – in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Given the majority enjoyed by the NDA bloc in both Houses, the motion of impeachment is unlikely to clear either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

So far there have been four attempts to impeach High Court judges and two to remove Supreme Court judges, with the last being in 2018 against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. None of the motions cleared the entire process.

Addressing an event organised by the VHP’s legal cell on the Allahabad High Court premises Sunday, Justice Yadav, while backing the Uniform Civil Code strongly, targeted Muslims and said “you have a misconception that if a law (UCC) is brought in, it will be against your Shariyat, your Islam and your Quran… But I want to say one more thing… whether it is your personal law, our Hindu law, your Quran or whether it is our Gita, as I said we have addressed the ills (buraaiyan) in our practices… kamiyan thi durust kar liye hai (the shortcomings have been addressed) …untouchability… sati, jauhar… female foeticide…we have addressed all those issues… Then why are you not doing away with his law… that while your first wife is there…you can have three wives… without her consent… that is not acceptable.”

He then went on to say “it is taught to us that even a small animal should not be killed. Even an ant should not be killed. That is perhaps why we are tolerant and generous. Hame kisi ka kasht dekh karke kasht hota hai… kisike peeda ko dekhke peeda hota hai… par aapke andar nahin hoti hai… Why? Because when a child is born in our community, they are taught about God, the Vedas and Mantras right from the childhood… they are told about non-violence… lekin aap ke yahan toh bachpan se bache ko saamne rakh kar ke vadh kiya jaat hai pashuon ka (in your community, animals are slaughtered in the presence of children)… toh aap kaise apeksha karte hain ki sahishnu hoga woh… udaar hoga woh (how do you expect the person to become tolerant, generous).”

Justice Yadav said, “I have no hesitation in saying that this is Hindustan… and the country will run according to the majority who live in Hindustan.”

He said the “law will operate on the will of the majority… if you look at families or the society… the will of the majority prevails.”

He said “the people who we are talking about… all of them are not bad… Not all of them are bad and the ills that I am talking about… they are not in favour of four wives, they are not in favour of triple talaq, they are not in favour of female foeticide… Lekin jo … (derogatory remark)… kyunoki woh desh ke liye ghatak hai (dangerous to the country)… Janata ko bhadkane wale log hain, desh aage na bade is prakar ke log hain (those who incite people, who do not want the country to progress) … unse sawdhan rahne ki zaroorat hai (need to be on guard against them).”