Senior RSS functionary J. Nandakumar has claimed the public attack against the Chief Justice of India came on the heels of the CJI’s order to reopen cases relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots.Left to right: Supreme Court justices Kurian Joseph, Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur address the media at a news conference in New Delhi. . Credit: PTINew Delhi: In a Facebook post on January 13, J. Nandakumar, a senior functionary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, described the press conference held by Supreme Court’s four top judges last week as a “perfect political conspiracy.” Nandakumar has accused the judges of “poisoning the waters”.J. Nandakumar. Credit: TwitterNandakumar, who is the RSS’s Akhil Bharatiya Sah Boudhik Pramukh, has alleged that the press conference was “perfectly timed,” coming as it did in the wake of the Chief Justice of India’s (CJI) order to reopen cases relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh, reported the Indian Express. In his Facebook post, Nandakumar has written about how Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal was pulled up for seeking a deferment of the Ayodhya title suit until the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were over.Speaking to the Indian Express, Nandakumar,said he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the RSS. “All these (developments) and Left leader D. Raja’s visit to (the house of) one of the Justices, who addressed the press conference, indicate a perfect political conspiracy behind this. The timing was critical.”In the Malayalam Facebook post, the RSS leader wrote “identify those who poison the drinking water”. He also wrote that the judiciary was one of the pillars of democracy, and that those attempting to hurt the institution are committing an unpardonable mistake.Nandakumar said that he had seen the press conference on television and that justice Ranjan Gogoi “did not even hear the question about judge Loya” and “a certain political party” had taken up the matter making the press conference a fallout of the Loya case.Also read: Death of a Judge: What We Know, What We Don’t KnowIn an unprecedented move, on January 12, four top Supreme Court judges held a press conference to talk about the issues that are distorting the functioning of the apex court. The press conference held at the residence of Justice J. Chelameswar, was also addressed by justices Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph. One of the issues propelling the media address was believed to be the questions that have been raised about the sudden death of special CBI judge B.H. Loya. In a letter to the CJI, the four judges expressed their unhappiness over the Supreme Court roster and the way cases were being allotted to different judges in the apex court.The Loya matter came to the fore following two reports the Caravan magazine published that quoted immediate members of the judge’s family, who questioned the circumstances surrounding his death. Loya, who was presiding over the CBI court in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, passed away on December 1, 2014, after a heart attack while he was in Nagpur to attend a colleague’s daughter’s wedding.
