Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda of the Karnataka High Court stirred controversy during a recent hearing when he referred to an area in Bengaluru as Pakistan. 

Srishananda made the reference while speaking about an area named Gori Palya in Bengaluru West. 

A video of the judge making the remark has surfaced on social media and is going viral. In the video, the judge can be heard saying that Gori Palya is in Pakistan, not India and that it is a reality. Srishananda was then seen smirking. 

"...Go to the Mysore Road flyover, every auto rickshaw has got 10 people in it. It is not applicable because the Mysore Road flyover till up to the market from Gori Palya is in Pakistan, not in India. This is the reality. No matter how strict a police officer you put there, they will be beaten up there," Justice Srishananda said during the hearing. 

Watch the video here:

As the judge’s comment started doing rounds on social media, it triggered severe outrage with many criticising and questioning how can a judge make such a divisive remark. 

A Bengaluru-based activist, Brinda Adige, criticised the judge for his statement and said that "this is how systemic dehumanisation of Indian Muslims looks like." 

In a posted on X Adige wrote,"...It is extremely unbecoming of a judge to use the words he did. This is how systemic dehumanisation of Indian Muslims look like where even the ones who're supposed to uphold the law, dehumanize Indian Muslims."

An X user labelled the judge's statement as "hate speech against Muslims."

"As the Chief Justice pontificates, here's a Karnataka HIgh Court judge casually indulging in dehumanisation and hate speech against Muslims. In any country, he would be deemed unfit to hold office." 

"A judge of an Indian Constitutional Court referring to fellow citizens of a different faith as Pakistani! Astonishing!" wrote @advsanjoy.

"Like IAS/IPS/IRS judges also must be filled after a proper educated test at least on constitution of India, instead of the so called collegium where personally biased selection is possible," said @azhahiyakadan.

"Karnataka High Court judge referring to Kannadiga Muslim people as Pakistani. Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda!" said @jeetxg.

As per reports, Gori Palya is a Muslim-dominated area in Bengaluru.