Supreme Court crisis: BJP remains cautious, accuses Congress of politicising judiciary

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday attacked Opposition Congress and its chief Rahul Gandhi for politicising India’s 'unprecedented' Supreme Court crisis.

"This is an internal matter of the Supreme Court, AG has given a statement. No politics should be played. The people of this country are watching Congress party exposing itself," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

BJP's attack came after Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s statement on the 'shock' press conference by four of the five senior-most judges of the Supreme Court on Friday.

Rahul Gandhi said the issues pointed out by the four judges of the Supreme Court were extremely important and should be jointly discussed by the top court.

“The points that have been raised by the 4 judges are extremely important. They mentioned that there is a threat to democracy. It needs to be looked into carefully,” Rahul Gandhi said in a press conference.

The Congress President also sought an inquiry into the death of the CBI Judge Brij Gopal Loya in 2014.

“They've made a point about Judge Loya's case. It needs to be investigated properly. It needs to be looked at from the highest levels of the Supreme Court,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Judge Loya was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh alleged fake encounter case when he died under "mysterious" conditions. BJP President Amit Shah was also an accused in the case.

Here is the complete two-page statement issued by the Congress party on the unprecedented Judges’ press conference.

AICC Press Release: INC Statement on the 4 SC Judges Press Conference on the functioning of the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/txekcEupkL

— Congress (@INCIndia) January 12, 2018

Earlier on Friday, four of the five top most senior judges of the Supreme Court had addressed an unprecedented press conference and questioned the conduct of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra.

The Supreme Court Judges' Press Conference: As it happened

The four judges - Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph – warned that India’s democracy is under threat because of the way CJI Dipak Misra is running the apex court.

"The four of us are convinced that unless this institution is preserved and it maintains its equanimity, democracy will not survive in this country," Justice Jasti Chelameswar said at the press conference, held at his Delhi home.

The four judges also circulated a letter accusing the Chief Justice of assigning important cases selectively to benches “of their presence with no rationale", hinting that CJI Misra had sought to influence the outcome.

CJI Dipak Misra has not responded to the allegations. However, there were reports on Friday that he may address a press conference but that could not take place.

The government has struck a cautious note on entire issue and Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhury, terming the issue as an internal matter of the Supreme Court, said the judiciary “will sort out the matter itself.”