The oath ceremony of the Five new additional judges of the Madras High Court including Victoria Gowri will be administered at 10.35 am tomorrow.
There are four other judges who take oath of the office tomorrow including Justice Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Justice Kandhasami Kulandaivelu Justice Ramakrishnan, Ramachandran Kalaimathi and Justice K Govindarajan Thilakavadi.
The swearing in of Victoria Gowri holds a special relevance due to the fact that there is a petition challenging her appointment which is about to be heard by the Apex Court tomorrow.
The bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice MM Sundresh.shall be hearing the matter which is listed as item 38.
Three lawyers who have been practising in the Madras High court have filed a petition against Advocate Gowri alleging her of prejudice on the basis of religious affiliations.
The petition talks about the strong prejudice shown by Victoria Gowri through her vitriolic comments against Muslim and Christian citizens.
The petition highlights the fundamental rights which are enshrined in Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India and talks about how these prejudices threaten their access to justice.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud has said yes to the urgent listing of the case stating that certain material relating to Gowri came to the Collegium’s notice only after the recommendation was made.
The controversy regarding Gowri has been in since the Collegium recommended her elevation to the Madras High Court on January 17.
The matter brewed when the legal circles and social media talked about her alleged affiliation to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A Twitter account belonging to Gowri claimed in its bio that she was the National General Secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha.
As per the information, the tweet from this handle, posted on August 31, 2019, talked about her joining the BJP, and a call to others to join the BJP and join hands to help create a New India!
The storm was kicked up by her remarks against Islam and Christianity which are still available on YouTube.
A February 2018,video titled More Threat to National Security & Peace? Jihad or Christian Missionary? Victoria Gowri is shown stating like Islam is green terror, Christianity is white terror.
Gowri is seen saying in an interview that Christian groups are more dangerous than Islam groups. Both are equally dangerous in the context of love jihad.
Another interview by Gowri said that Bharatanatyam should not be danced for Christian songs.
A group of lawyers then wrote to the President of India and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) registering their protest against the proposed elevation.
on the other side there have been some lawyers from Madurai who wrote to the CJI in support of Gowri.