Will cause grave harm to judiciary: Madras High Court lawyers protest proposed elevation of Victoria Gowri as judge

A group of Senior Advocates from the Madras High Court Bar has written to the President of India registering their protest against the proposed elevation of lawyer and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri..In their representations sent on Wednesday, 22 members of the Bar have said that they wished to bring to the knowledge of President Draupadi Murmu some "disturbing facts" concerning Gowri..The senior lawyers, including Senior Advocates R Vaigai, D Nagasaila and T Mohan, and Advocates NGR Prasad and V Suresh, have flagged problematic public statements and hate speeches made by Gowri against Muslims and Christians..The letters refer to two of Gowri's interviews that are available for public viewing on YouTube..In the first interview from February 2018, titled More Threat to National Security & Peace? Jihad or Christian Missionary? - Answers Victoria Gowri, Gowri is seen saying,"Like Islam is green terror, Christianity is white terror.""Christian groups are more dangerous than Islam groups. Both are equally dangerous in the context of love jihad," Gowri can be heard saying in the interview..In the other interview from June 5, 2018, Gowri said, among other things, that "Bharatanatyam should not be danced for Christian songs.".The letter also cites a 2012 article published in Organiser, a publication of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), allegedly authored by Gowri saying, "...not a finger is lifted to stop allured and forcible conversions and to prevent Christians from conceiving communal conflicts," and "...for fifty years, the marginalised Hindus have been fighting the mighty Christian diocese. But now the situation is out of control.".The Bar members' representation says that such interviews amount to hate speech, and are likely to incite and spread communal discord and violence."Can any litigant belonging to the Muslim or Christian community ever hope to get justice in her court, if she becomes a judge?" the signatories ask in the letter.The letter thus appeals to the President,"We therefore urge you to return the file, recommending Ms. Victoria Gowri as Judge of the Madras High Court and seek clarification as to how a person who has spread hate speech against our country's minorities has been recommended to a high constitutional office of a Judge of a High Court.".Senior Advocate D Nagasaila, one of the 22 signatories said that she and the other lawyers felt compelled to write to the President after learning of Gowri's interviews and public statements against minority communities."Just watching anyone of her interviews is enough to show that it is problematic. The proposal for her elevation should be recalled and Gowri should be prosecuted under the IPC for such statements," Nagasaila said.She also said that most of the 22 signatories to such letter have been active members of the Bar for 30 to 40 years, and that they have been routinely raising issues of judicial impropriety..On January 17 this year, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the names of five lawyers, including Gowri's for elevation to the Bench..Soon after, there began much discussion in legal circles and on social media about Gowri's credentials and her alleged affiliation to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)..An unverified Twitter account allegedly belonging to Gowri claimed in its bio that she was the National General Secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha. A tweet from this handle, posted on August 31, 2019, says, "I just joined the BJP, you too can join the BJP and join hands to help create a New India!".The Twitter handle seems to have been deleted now. Gowri is an ASG appointed by the Central government to represent it before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court..[Read the representation]