Supreme Court Senior Advocate and UK’s King Counsel, Harish Salve has firmly criticised former Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud for his BBCHardtalk interview. Sharing his strong objections, Salve raised several objections on the former CJI’s decision to speak on the foreign media platform. He also raised concerns about the intention to put the Supreme Court of India “on trial”.
In an exclusive Interview with Republic TV’s Rhytm Anand Bharadwaj, Salve strongly aired his objections regarding Justice Chandrachud offering detailed explanations to foreign narratives on judicial verdicts of the Indian Supreme Court. He categorically noted, “Judges should speak through their Judgments’ and that judicial reasoning should be confined to court verdicts, not media interviews where aspersions are cast on motives and intentions of the judges rather than stern scrutiny of judgements.
Also Read: Former CJI DY Chandrachud foil BBC anchor’s vested agenda on ‘Independence of Judiciary’
Salve said, “You get a BBC journalist, you should know you are heading for trouble. The second and more important thing- the Chief Justice of India is a part of Supreme Court of India and I don’t think he should be speaking of what the court does because it’s not him, it’s the Supreme Court which is actually on trial in that interview. We always say judges should only speak through their judgements.”
“The judgment gave reasons why it upheld the abrogation. But when the same issue is brought up in a private interview, all sorts of aspersions are cast, and motives for the judgment are questioned,” Salve added while slamming DY Chandrachud for giving explanations to the BBC journalist on the Supreme Court’s Article 370 verdict.
He asserted, “Take the Article 370- the judgement gave reasons why it upheld. You bring this up in a private interview and your motives for the judgement are questioned. All sorts of aspersions were cast”.
India’s top legal mind, Harish Salve also came down heavily on the BBC journalist stating, “Who is a journalist to ask why our Supreme Court hears a case or does not hear a case? (…) what was the underlying suggestion? That the Supreme Court has lost its duty to the Constitution in holding the balance between caste and communities?”
Salve further emphasised that engaging with media outlets like the BBC on sensitive judicial matters could have serious repercussions. He argued, “If you sit for an interview like this, you should know you are heading for trouble.
Advising the Former CJI, Salve noted, “If you want to give interviews on administrative work on how you’ve introduced technology or working or improving the lot of the complete near defunct legal system – speak about that. Don’t speak about Judgments ever.”
Meanwhile, on the issue of recent disclosures by the US DOGE on USAID funding to Indian journalists, activists and their nexus, Salve said that the Indian government must seek full disclosures from the US government to seek complete clarity over the names and fundings and then at least come out with a white paper around the USAID funding. To buttress the assertion of foreign meddling in India’s internal affairs, Salve also recalled how Indira Gandhi, one of the tallest leader in the Indian polity, had often drawn attention towards ‘foreign hand’ to destabilise India.
