Advocate Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri took oath as the additional judge of the Madras High Court on Tuesday.
Her oath ceremony took place as the hearing in the plea against her appointment is ongoing in the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court refused to entertain the plea against the appointment of advocate Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri as an additional judge of the Madras High Court on Tuesday. The decision was given shortly after the hearing on the plea began in the morning.
A group of lawyers approached to SC against Gowri's appointment
A group of lawyers in Chennai have approached the apex court against the Central government’s recommendation for the elevation of the advocate Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri as a judge of the Madras high court.
Alleging Gowri's relation with the Bhartiya Janata Party, lawyers have claimed that Gowri has given statements against minorities in the past and that her elevation will dent the independence of the judiciary.
In two separate letters addressed to President Droupadi Murmu and the Supreme Court collegium, the members of the Madras High Court Bar Council objected to the collegium’s recommendation alleging her appointment would “dents the independence of the judiciary.”
Remarks against Islam and Christianity kicked up a storm
The Madras lawyers backed their statement with two interviews given by Gowri in 2018 on YouTube captioned “The more threat to national security and Peace? Jihad or Christian Missionary?" and "Cultural genocide by Christian Missionaries in Bharat - Victoria Gowri."
"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 one of these interviews.
They also cited an article titled “Aggressive baptising destroying social harmony” published on October 1, 2012, in an RSS publication.
