Uddhav Sena mocks Valentine's Day 'cow hug' move, slams PM on silence on 'holy cow' Adani
Mumbai (PTI): The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Friday mocked the 'Cow Hug Day' initiative for Valentine's Day on February 14 and took a swipe at Narendra Modi claiming billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani was a "holy cow" for the prime minister.
The Animal Welfare Board of India has issued an advisory urging people to celebrate Valentine's Day as 'Cow Hug Day' to spread "positive energy" and encourage "collective happiness", the move getting the backing of some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders while also generating several memes ridiculing it.
The value of shares of Adani Group firms have taken a beating over the last few weeks after US-based Hindenburg Research accused it of stock manipulation and fraud. These have been denied by the Adani group.
In an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Uddhav faction of the Shiv Sena said despite protests in Parliament against Adani, the PM did utter a single word on the "scam".
"People want a clarification from the prime minister on the Adani scam, but the Modi government has again given a dose of religion to people to keep them quiet. Modi did not talk about Adani in Parliament, but his government spoke on cows," the 'Saamana' editorial said.
"Adani is the big bull of the stock market, but for Modi he is a holy cow," the editorial said, adding the PM had embraced the "big bull" and was not ready to loosen the grip.
With Assembly polls set to take place in several states this year, and the Lok Sabha elections just over a year away, the NDA government under Modi does not have much to show by way of development, so was seeking votes in the name of issues like Ram Temple and cows, the Sena editorial alleged.
Incidentally, Adani had met Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the UBT faction of the Shiv Sena, in September last year.
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K’taka HC judge whose controversial remarks triggered controversy expresses regret before open court
Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court judge, Justice V Srishananda, on Saturday expressed regret in open court after facing backlash over his controversial remarks in his recent court hearings, reported Bar and Bench.
Two purported video clips from Justice V Srishananda’s court hearing that show him making inappropriate comments went viral across social media platforms.
On Saturday, Justice Srishananda invited members of the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, and senior lawyers to his courtroom at 2:30 PM, where he read out a note expressing regret for inappropriate comments.
Quoting Advocates Association President Vivek Subba Reddy, Bar and Bench wrote, “He expressed regret for the comments and clarified that it was not his intention to offend any community or members of the Bar. He also requested the association to relay this message to all members of the Bar.”
Reddy further stated, “We also advised him to encourage young lawyers in the courtroom and refrain from making any irrelevant remarks during hearings.”
Another senior lawyer present during the session confirmed to the legal news portal that Justice Srishananda also addressed comments directed at a woman lawyer, who was seen in one of the videos being reprimanded by the judge. The judge Justice Srishananda clarified that his remarks were not intended to target her (woman lawyer) specifically, but rather pertained to the appellant she was representing. “He explained that his comment was meant to imply that the appellant seemed to know a lot about the other party,” said the lawyer.
In addition, Justice Srishananda assured those present that he would avoid making such comments in the future.
The controversy came to light on September 19, when a video clip from an August 28 Court hearing surfaced on social media, showing Justice Srishananda referring to a Muslim-majority sub-locality in Bengaluru’s Goripalya as "Pakistan." Hours later, another video from the same courtroom emerged, in which the judge was seen making a gender-insensitive remark.
Following outrage over the viral videos, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy, on September 20 took a suo motu cognizance and sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General in connection with the viral video.
