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Category: cji

  • Police, SC registry refute unverified claims about CJI Chandrachud’s personal links with Mamata, Abhishek

    An image of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and his wife Kalpana Das has gone viral on the messaging platform WhatsApp. The text above the photo says, “CJI Chandrachur’s present wife is related to Dr. S. P. Das Orthopaedic surgeon and personal physician of CM Government of West Bengal. Also Justice Chandrachur and Abhishek Banerjee spend their holidays in Malaysia and Bangkok together! Just informing you without any intentions behind.” (sic)

    At a time when a CJI-led Bench of the Supreme Court is hearing the Kolkata rape and murder case, the image is being shared with the implicit suggestion that there is an understanding between the CJI and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

    Alt News has received multiple requests on its WhatsApp helpline (76000 11160) to fact check the claim tagged with the image.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The photo and/or the accompanying claim are also being shared across social media platforms. Below are a few instances:

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact Check

    We first noticed that the image in the viral message/social media post is taken from an Instagram post by a user named supremecourtofindia1950. We looked at the timeline of this Instagram user and found that the photo had been shared on September 27, 2023. The photo is captioned, “Chief Justice of India D.Y.Chandrachud with his wife Kalpana Das at Rashtrapati Bhavan.” There is no mention of S P Das or Abhishek Banerjee.

    Next, we noticed that there were three separate claims in the social media post/message that is viral. These are:

    • S P Das is Mamata Banerjee’s physician.
    • Kalpana Das, the wife of CJI D Y Chandrachud, is related to S P Das.
    • Trinamool MP and general secretary Abhishek Banerjee travels/vacations with CJI Chandrachud.

    We found that both the Supreme Court registry and West Bengal Police had released statements refuting the claims in the viral image. The claim of any link between a family member of the CJI with a medical lobby in Bengal was termed ‘ill intended’ and ‘factually incorrect’ by the SC registry, according to Law Today.

    The statement read, “A malicious tweet had been circulated on X ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on the Kolkata rape and murder case attempting to link a member of the family of the Chief Justice of India with a medical lobby in Bengal. The tweet is ill intended, factually incorrect and an attempt to malign the judiciary. A complaint has been registered in this regard with the Delhi Police.”

    On the other hand, the official X handle of West Bengal Police first shared a tweet on September 7 in this regard. They said the claims in the viral message were ‘extremely derogatory’ and contained ‘baseless aspersions’.

    Further, on September 10, Krishnanagar District Police from West Bengal tweeted that a ‘fake news’ had been circulated to defame the CJI and a case had been registered in this regard against Sujit Haldar of Fulbari, Krishnaganj PS (Krishnaganj PS Case No 349/24) and an investigation was underway.

    Shyama Pada Das, an alumnus of North Bengal Medical College, is a senior orthopaedician practising in Kolkata. For years, he has been the personal physician of Mamata Banerjee. This is something he has himself publicly proclaimed on several occasions.

    Dr Shyama Pada Das

    Das is also allegedly a key player in the state’s medical establishment and wields enormous power in the health sector. According to sources in the state’s medical fraternity that Alt News spoke to, Das is at the helm of what is known as the ‘North Bengal lobby’. This has been widely reported by mainstream media much before the R G Kar incident. In the wake of the horrific crime, too, the role of the North Bengal lobby has come under the scanner.

    The readers should note that CJI DY Chandrachud’s wife Kalpana Das hails from the state of Odisha. This was publicly acknowledged by the CJI at a programme of the Odisha Judicial Academy in Bhubaneswar on May 6, 2023. “I think I have become a very constant visitor to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Now, the least of the reasons for which is that I am proudly regarded as the son-in-law of Odisha because my wife is an Odia,” Chandrachud said.

    The last claim in the viral image is that Trinamool general secretary Ahishek Banerjee and CJI D Y Chandrachud spent holidays in Malaysia and Bangkok together. Readers should note that Alt News could not find any publicly available data to support this.

    The post Police, SC registry refute unverified claims about CJI Chandrachud’s personal links with Mamata, Abhishek appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • No, CJI Chandrachud did not leave in the middle of electoral bonds hearing

    In the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s verdict which declared electoral bonds unconstitutional, several social media users have claimed that during a hearing related to the matter, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud got up and left the court in the middle of the proceedings while solicitor general of India (SG) Tushar Mehta was making his arguments in front of the five-judge Bench led by the CJI.

    Right-Wing influencer Ajeet Bharti tweeted a video of the alleged incident. At the end of the video, CJI Chandrachud seems to be getting up from his seat. Bharti said, “Wow! The lawyer kept speaking, and Chandrachud got up and left without saying anything! This video shows how arrogant and disrespectful the judiciary can be with its familial talent and appropriate DNA sequence-bearing judges. This is the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court!” He later deleted the tweet. (Archive)

    The readers should note that Alt News has found Ajeet Bharti sharing misinformation several times in the past.

    User @AmitLeliSlayer also tweeted the same video with the same claim. (Archive)

    Verified user Jayesh Mehta quote-tweeted the viral video and called it a gross humiliation and insult to the Government of India. The user also suggested that all the judges including CJI Chandrachud should be “hauled up and forced to resign by the President of India”. (Archive)

    Several other users amplified the viral claim. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4)

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact Check

    The full-length live stream of the hearing is available on the YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India. This is a live streaming of Supreme Court proceedings on March 18. We located the viral bit at approximately 27:06 of the YouTube livestream. CJI Chandrachud can be seen getting up to readjust himself in the chair and the hearing continues.

    Around this time, SG Mehta is heard discussing the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding disclosing the details of electoral bonds. “My purpose is to inform your Lordships that there is something else playing which neither your Lordships intended, not the scheme intended… On 11th of March, we thought that this information would help the voters to take a call whether to vote for a particular party or not..” At this point, CJI Chandrachud says, “Okay, we’ll… [inaudible] the order.” Then he repositions himself in his chair and tries to dictate the order, but gets interrupted by other lawyers.

    Hence, it is clear that several Right Wing users tried to mislead their followers by claiming that Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud walked out in the middle of the hearing when solicitor general Tushar Mehta was making his arguments. Alt News found that the CJI had got up to reposition himself in the chair and the hearing continued. The viral video has been clipped in a way that it suggests the CJI got up from his chair.

    The post No, CJI Chandrachud did not leave in the middle of electoral bonds hearing appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.