Four senior judges who criticised CJI Dipak Misra not in bench for key cases

The Supreme Court on Monday announced that a five-judge Constitution bench will begin hearing seven important cases from January 18.

However, none of the four senior Supreme Court judges who questioned Chief Justice Dipak Misra’s conduct in the allocation of important cases figured in the five-judge Constitution bench.

The five-judge Constitution bench comprises CJI Misra, Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.

The cases which will be taken up by the Bench are - petition challenging the criminalisation of homosexuality (Section 377 case), the provision of adultery in the Indian Penal Code which says only men can be punished for adultery but not women.

Other important cases are the restrictions on the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple, a Parsi woman who is bared to enter a fire temple because she married outside her religion.

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Petitions on taxation and consumer laws will also be taken up by the Bench. Another important plea seeking disqualification of legislators facing criminal cases at the stage of charges being framed would also be heard by the five-judge Constitution Bench.

On Friday, four of the five senior most Supreme Court judges – Justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurien Joseph – held a press conference and levelled serious charges against Chief Justice Dipak Misra.

The four judges said CJI Misra was ignoring rules and assigning important cases to select benches “with no rationale”.