Government will use judge cash row to push for control on judges' appointments: Mahua Moitra

New Delhi: TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Monday expressed apprehension that the Centre may use the controversy surrounding the alleged discovery of bundles of cash in the outhouse of a Delhi High Court judge to push for greater control over judicial appointments.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, she claimed that the uproar in the media was part of a larger effort to revive the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJSC), an alternative to collegium system to appoint Supreme Court and high court judges.

"Just like the Election Commission has been emasculated by the government takeover, this media brouhaha is the beginning of an effort to bring back NJAC," Moitra said.

She criticised sections of the media, which she referred to as "Godi media," for shifting the narrative from the facts of the incident to a debate on judicial appointments.

"We saw the same thing in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, where an innocent woman was vilified. The same thing happened in my case," she added, without elaborating further.