Rahul Gandhi says issues raised by judges extremely important

New Delhi: As the government maintained a safe distance from the unprecedented open rebellion against the Chief Justice of India, Congress president Rahul Gandhi made a brief statement and expressed concern over the impending “threat to the democracy.”

In an unscheduled press conference, Mr Gandhi raised the issue of the “mysterious” death of Justice B.H. Loya and also sought investigation into the death by the “highest level” of the apex court.

Mr Gandhi described the rebellion against the Chief Justice by the Supreme Court judges as “unprecedented”.

“All citizens who love the idea of justice, believe in the Supreme Court, are looking at this issue. It is important that it is addressed,” he said.

“They (the judges) mentioned that there is a threat to democracy. It needs to be looked into carefully,’ he added.

He was referring to charges made by the top four Supreme Court judges, including cases being assigned to benches of preference and delaying appointment of judges among others.

“It’s a serious issue,” Mr Gandhi observed. The Congress president refused to take any question and left after making a brief appearance.

Earlier, the Congress had demanded a “through probe into judge Loya’s death.”

At the time of his death, Justice Loya was handling the CBI’s case of murder against BJP president Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter.

According to media reports justice Loya’s family alleged that days before his death, he was offered `100 crores as a bribe to rule in favour of the BJP chief.

In a statement read out by the Congress communications chief Randeep Singh Surjewala, the Congress wanted that the matter raised by the four Supreme Court judges should be addressed at the earliest.

The statement said that “the long silence of the government of India to the memorandum of procedure that was finalised by the Supreme Court and the assignment of cases in the Supreme Court should be addressed with the traditions and conventions of the judiciary.”

The Congress also said that in the matter of assignment of cases, the established conventions and traditions of the courts must be followed and selective assignment of the cases must be stopped.