Allahabad HC rejects PIL challenging impeachment motion moved against Justice Shekhar Yadav
Lucknow, Jan 7: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Tuesday dismissed as "not maintainable" a PIL challenging the impeachment motion moved against Justice Shekhar Yadav over his alleged controversial remarks at a VHP event last month.
"We do not see that the cause espoused in the present petition relates to any vulnerable section of people. Thus, on the touch stone of maintainability, the present PIL does not qualify the very test of initiation of proceedings on its threshold," said the bench of Justice AR Masoodi and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi.
The bench passed the order on the public interest litigation moved by Ashok Pandey.
The petitioner had demanded that the HC should issue direction to the Rajya Sabha chairman not to initiate further proceedings on the notice for impeachment motion submitted to the Rajya Sabha secretary general by 55 MPs.
In the notice, the MPs have sought impeachment of Justice Yadav, a sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court, over the speech delivered by him at Prayagraj on December 8 at an event organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).
Dismissing the PIL, the bench held that the cardinal principle within which a PIL is entertained before the constitutional courts is representation of a cause of vulnerable section of people but the present PIL is not filed by such section.
Addressing a provincial convention of the legal cell and high court unit of the VHP at the high court on December 8, among other things, Justice Yadav said the main aim of the uniform civil code was to promote social harmony, gender equality and secularism.
The following day, videos of the judge speaking on provocative issues, including the law working according to the majority, were circulated widely on social media, prompting strong reactions from several quarters, including opposition leaders who questioned his reported statement, labelling it as "hate speech".
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Israeli strikes kill 25 people in Gaza as Supreme Court hears Shin Bet cases
Jerusalem, Apr 8 (AP): Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Tuesday killed at least 25 people, including eight children and five women, according to Palestinian medics.
Meanwhile, Israel's Supreme Court is hearing a group of eight cases challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's move to dismiss the head of the internal security agency.
Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas in March and has cut off all food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza -- a tactic that rights groups say is a war crime -- while issuing displacement orders that have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee Israeli bombardments and ground operations.
Israel's war in Gaza, in its 18th month, has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, and taking 251 others hostage. The group still holds 59 captives -- 24 believed to be alive.
