Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, did not walk away in the middle of the Electoral Bonds hearing - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 20, 2024
A post featuring a live broadcast of the Supreme Court’s proceedings in courtroom number one shows Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta addressing a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. This clip is circulating on social media (here, here and here), with the claim that Chandrachud abruptly left the courtroom while Mehta was presenting his arguments. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud abruptly left the courtroom while Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta was presenting his arguments in front of the five-judge Bench led by the CJI.
Fact: The full video of the proceedings reveals that Chandrachud simply adjusted his chair and continued to listen to Tushar Mehta’s argument without leaving the proceedings. The original video had been edited between the 23:00 to 27:05 timestamps before being shared. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
After conducting a relevant keyword search regarding the viral video, we discovered the complete proceedings on the official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India. It was revealed that these proceedings occurred on 18 March 2024.
Upon further investigation, it was found that the viral video concludes at the 27:05 timestamp, where it appears that CJI is about to rise from his seat. However, the full video reveals that Chandrachud simply adjusted his chair and continued to listen to Tushar Mehta’s argument. The original video had been edited between the 23:00 to 27:05 timestamps before being shared. Following these arguments, the hearing concluded with the court issuing an order directing SBI to disclose ‘alpha-numeric details’ on or before 21 March 2024.
To sum up, Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, did not walk away in the middle of the Electoral Bonds hearing.