Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
A photograph showing CPI(M) leaders Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat, joined by Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy among others, is going viral on social media. Several users who shared the photograph claimed that two of the men at the table were Supreme Court Judges Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala, who recently rebuked Nupur Sharma during hearing of a plea by the suspended BJP spokesperson in connection with her alleged blasphemous comments. Newschecker found the claim to be untrue.
Links to such posts can be found here, here, here and here.
A Supreme Court bench of Justice Kant and Justice Pardiwala on July 1 rejected Nupur Shrama’s plea seeking transfer of all the FIRs registered against her in connection to remarks on Prophet Mohammad- that led to a series of protests and diplomatic issues- to Delhi. The apex court said, “This lady is single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country… The outcome of her statement is what happened in Udaipur… the unfortunate killing in Udaipur. Her remarks were extremely disturbing.” and added that Sharma must apologise to the whole nation for her “loose tongue” that ignited strong emotions just to fan an agenda.
Following the judgement, the judges have been heavily criticised on social media platforms. More recently, 15 ex-judges, 77 former bureaucrats and 25 retired officers of the armed forces have criticised the Supreme Court’s comments against Nupur Sharma. In an open letter to Chief Justice of India CV Ramana, they said that the two-judge bench’s observation — that she is “single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country” — was a “virtual exoneration of the dastardliest beheading at Udaipur”
Also Read: Nupur Sharma Case Judge Justice J.B. Pardiwala Was A Congress MLA? No, Viral Claim Is False
Fact Check/Verification
We looked up the official website of the Supreme Court of India to access the images of Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala. Following this, we compared their images with the viral photograph, but could not spot either Justice Kant or Justice Pardiwala.
On carefully analysing the photograph, we could identify NDTV’s Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, The Hindu’s N Ram and CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat sitting at the table. Following this, we scanned the Twitter account of Prannoy Roy and found a tweet dated July 6, 2022, carrying an the viral image along with a statement of N Ram clarifying that the two men identified as the Supreme Court judges are in fact Tamil Nadu Finance Minister P Thiaga Rajan and he himself. The photograph was taken at a restaurant in Ketti near Ooty.
N Ram also shared the same post carrying the viral image and his statement on Twitter on July 5, 2022. He wrote, “How idiotic! The calibre of your disinformation is pathetic, beneath contempt.”
We continued our investigation and found a Facebook post by MindEscapes, dated July 3, 2022, carrying the viral photograph with the caption, “A Chef’s Table session with Finance Minister – Tamil Nadu, Mr. P. Thiagarajan, Dr. Prannoy Roy and Mrs. Radhika Roy, Mrs. Brinda Karat and Mr. Prakash Karat, Mrs. and Mr. N. Ram and Dipali Sikand.”
Notably, Dipali Sikand is the founder of MindEscapes
The photograph was shared by the club’s Twitter handle with the same caption on the same day.
Conclusion
Viral claim that Supreme Court Judges Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala were dining with NDTV executives and CPI (M) leader is false.
Result: False
Sources
Tweet By @PrannoyRoyNDTV On July 6, 2022
Tweet By @nramind On July 5, 2022
Facebook Post By @experience.mindescapes On July 3, 2022
Self Analysis
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
