Overview

• Opposition MPs moved a December 13 petition with 55 signatures accusing Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of hate speech at a VHP event, but eight mismatches, three unverified and two duplicate signatures have stalled the process.
• Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has yet to admit the motion as signature verification remains incomplete under the Judges’ Inquiry Act requirements.
• The Supreme Court dropped its planned in-house inquiry into Yadav’s remarks after the Rajya Sabha secretariat asserted exclusive parliamentary jurisdiction over judge removal.
• Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal has publicly slammed the chairman’s inaction and suggested the government may be protecting Justice Yadav.
• Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju is seeking cross-party support to initiate impeachment proceedings against Justice Yashwant Varma based on an in-house inquiry report, a step Sibal warns would bypass constitutional safeguards.