SC to examine 'Hindu nation' judgement

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea by an advocate and others against a judgement from Meghalaya High Court judge Justice Sudip Ranjan Sen who said India should have been declared a Hindu country at the time of partition in 1947.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued a notice to the Supreme Court's registrar general and the Meghalaya High Court on the petition filed by advocate Sona Khan and others.

The petitioner, who had earlier sought withdrawal of judicial work from Justice Sen, was told to amend the prayer and seek expunction of the controversial remarks in the judgment.

Besides Khan, other petitioners are K P Fabian, Prof Atul Sharma, Kadyan Subramanium, Suhas Broker, Partha Chatterjee and Prof Imtiyaz Ahmed.

Justice Sen had written in his judgement, "Pakistan declared themselves as an Islamic country and India since was divided on the basis of religion should have also been declared as a Hindu country but it remained as a secular country.

"Even today, in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos are tortured and they have no place to go and those Hindus who entered India during partition are still considered as foreigners, which in my understanding is highly illogical, illegal and against the principle of natural justice," Justice Sen had said.