The person in this photo with Sonia Gandhi is ex-Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, not Justice J.B. Pardiwala - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 4, 2022
A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the person in the picture is the Supreme Court Judge J.B. Pardiwala. The post even claims that he was a Congress MLA earlier. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Supreme Court Judge JB Pardiwala with Sonia Gandhi.
Fact: The photo is of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan with Sonia Gandhi. The photo was taken in January 2007 when Justice K.G. Balakrishnan was congratulated on being appointed as the Chief Justice of India. Justice J.B. Pardiwala was elevated as the Supreme Court Judge on 09 May 2022. He was never a Congress MLA, however, his father, Barjorji Cowasji Pardiwala had once served as the Speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly. Barjorji Cowasji Pardiwala was elected as an MLA from the Valsad Assembly Constituency on an Indian National Congress ticket. Barjorji Cowasji Pardiwala passed away in 2015 due to some age-related illness. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the photo, a similar photo was found in a blog published in 2007. According to the Blog, the person in the picture with Sonia Gandhi was ex-Chief Justice of India, Balakrishnan.
Justice K.G. Balakrishnan was appointed as the Chief Justice of India on 14 January 2007. He retired on 12 May 2010. We could not find any information online which says that he was Congress MLA.
When we searched online with relevant keywords, a similar photo of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan with Sonia Gandhi was found in the stock photo website, Getty Images. The photo was taken when Justice K.G. Balakrishnan was congratulated on being appointed as the Chief Justice of India, in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
On the other hand, Justice J.B. Pardiwala was elevated as the Supreme Court Judge on 09 May 2022. According to his profile on the Supreme Court of India website, he was never a Congress MLA.
However, his father, Barjorji Cowasji Pardiwala had once served as the Speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly. Barjorji Cowasji Pardiwala was elected as an MLA from the Valsad Assembly Constituency on an Indian National Congress ticket. Barjorji Cowasji Pardiwala passed away in 2015 due to some age-related illness.
To sum it up, the person in the photo with Sonia Gandhi is ex-Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, not Justice J.B. Pardiwala.