On Monday a new controversy erupted on social media over a tweet by Times of India, which quoted the Chief Justice of India as question the central government’s policy on Pakistani province of Balochistan.
According to the Times of India tweet, CJI Justice Thakur had said, “Balochistan not India’s concern, says Chief Justice of India, TS Thakur.”
The TOI tweet became viral in no time with prominent names on Twitter sharing and commenting on the alleged statement made by Justice Thakur.
However, not everyone appeared willing to take the TOI tweet at face value.
Soon, Times of India deleted the tweet, implying that it had wrongly attributed the comments on Balochistan to Chief Justice Thakur.
But by this time, many Twitter users had already begun training their guns at the CJI, who’s been widely hailed for his being an upright judge.
Although, the newspaper has not issued any clarification as to how it ended up wrongly quoting the CJI, it appears that the TOI wrongly attributed the comments made by former minister of external affairs, Salman Khurshid, to Justice Thakur.
Khurshid, according to an earlier PTI report, had said, “To interfere in Pakistan’s internal matter, no matter how appropriate it may be in terms of human rights, political aspirations of people, it is not our business.”
Justice Thakur was in news earlier on Monday when he questioned PM Modi’s silence on the appointment of judges during his 90-minute long Independence Day speech.
Speaking at a function in Supreme Court, Justice Thakur lamented that he hoped Modi to speak on the appointment of judges.
If indeed TOI’s tweet was based on Justice Thakur’s speech at the Supreme Court’s function, then that event had among others, the Union Law Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad.
It will be interesting to see if Prasad denies or confirms the reporting of TOI.
Here are some social media reactions on this topic;
Has CJI actually said this? Knowing him to be a highly respected and reputed jurist, we'll need authentication first https://t.co/fze3ZcawOI
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) August 15, 2016
Since ToI has deleted this, I'd presume this was inaccurate/misquote. Never believed CJI would spk on Baluchistan https://t.co/VETIDMFKxJ
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) August 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/AskAnshul/status/765081000108064769
Decision2raise Balochistan unanimous by parliament & all parties.CJI Thakur should remain in constitutional limits. pic.twitter.com/Z3D64WwmsW
— Abhinav Prakash (@Abhina_Prakash) August 15, 2016
I feel that CJI TS Thakur's unsolicited comments on #Balochistan is unwarranted and overstepping. Foreign policy is not a judicial subject
— Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) August 15, 2016
What I got to know about TOI tweet on so called statement of CJI on Balochistan is a cause of concern. TOI copy-pasted it from a TV channel
— Sumit Nagpal (@Sumit_Nagpal) August 15, 2016
If CJI was quoted as saying something on Balochistan which he did not say, he should issue notice to those who misquoted him.
— Divya Kumar Soti (@DivyaSoti) August 15, 2016
Salman Khurshid makes a comment on Balochistan
TOI claims CJI said it, then deletes tweet.
Cc @vineetjaintimes pic.twitter.com/2icpzE9Pz5— bwoyblunder (@bwoyblunder) August 15, 2016
Dear CJI Thakur, instead of preaching PM to not speak on Balochistan, better worry about millions of cases pending in courts.
— Harshit Kaul (@WandererSS6) August 15, 2016