'Chowkidar' PM made a judge his 'court-puppet': Rahul on Joseph's claim

Ex-Supreme Court judge Joseph recently said that the previous Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was "remote-controlled by an external source"

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over ex-Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph's claim about alleged interference in administration of justice by the apex court, alleging that the 'chowkidar' had made a judge his "court-puppet".

Gandhi further said it was the bad luck of the 'chowkidar' (watchman), a term he often uses for Modi, that there was no dearth of honest judges who do not allow "arrogance of power to prevail over truth".

The Congress president's attack follows a sensational claim made by the recently retired judge Joseph that the previous Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was "remote-controlled by an external source".

Justice Joseph, however, did not elaborate on who the "external source" was and which were the cases in which administration of justice was affected.

There was no immediate reaction from the government or the BJP, while Misra has also not reacted to the allegation.

"The chowkidaar had made a Supreme Court judge his 'court-putli' (court-puppet)," Gandhi tweeted.

"It's chowkidar's bad luck that there is no dearth of honest judges in the country for whom truth is always bigger than power and who do not allow arrogance of power to prevail over truth. The country is proud of such judges," Gandhi added.

Joseph was among the four senior judges of the apex court who had staged an open revolt against justice Misra by convening an unprecedented press conference on January 12 to flag their concerns about preferential allocation of sensitive cases to judges low down on the top court's hierarchy.

Justices J Chelameswar, who has since retired, Ranjan Gogoi, the current Chief Justice and Madan Lokur were the other judges.

The Congress had on Monday said Justice Joseph's remarks proved its allegations against the government of interference in the highest levels of judiciary, and demanded separate parliamentary and judicial inquiries into the matter.