Overview

• Eighteen retired judges, including former Supreme Court justices Kurien Joseph, Madan B. Lokur and J. Chelameswar, called Shah’s characterisation of the Salwa Judum ruling “unfortunate” and a misinterpretation.
• Signatories warned that a prejudicial reading of a Supreme Court judgment by a senior minister could chill judicial decision-making and urged candidates to avoid name-calling during the campaign.
• Shah asserted in Kerala on August 22 and repeated in an August 25 interview that Justice B. Sudershan Reddy’s 2011 order helped Naxalism persist and claimed insurgency would have ended by 2020 without it.
• Reddy replied that the ruling was the Supreme Court’s, not his personal position, noted he authored it with Justice S. S. Nijjar, and suggested Shah had not read the full judgment.
• The 2011 judgment disbanded the Salwa Judum as unconstitutional for arming tribal civilians, and opposition figures including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin have publicly defended Reddy ahead of the vice-presidential election.