SC seeks its ex-judge Katju’s presence, first in history

In an unprecedented order, the Supreme Court on Monday summoned one of its former judges, Markandey Katju, to appear in person before it to point out the “fundamental flaws”, as claimed by him in the sensational Soumya rape case.

“He (Justice Katju) is a respected gentleman. We request him to come in person and debate his Facebook post criticising the judgment. Let him come to the court and let’s debate over the fundamental flaws in our verdict,” a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and U U Lalit said and issued a notice to Justice Katju.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who was assisting the top court in the matter, said “I think it is for the first time that the Supreme Court has asked its former judge to appear in person before it in connection with any matter”.

In his Facebook post, Justice Katju had criticised the apex court saying it had grievously erred by “not holding” the convict, Govindachamy, “guilty of murder” in the case.

The bench also kept the review petitions filed by Kerala and Soumya’s mother in abeyance saying it would debate with Justice Katju on his facebook post.