Fact-Check: CJI Chandrachud Didn't 'Walk Away' During Electoral Bond Hearing

The CJI did not leave the hearing mid-way. He was simply adjusting his chair.

A video of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is being shared on social media platforms to claim that he "walked away" in the middle of the ongoing Electoral Bonds case hearing while the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta was presenting his arguments.

This post recorded 1.5 million views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: No, the claim is false.

• Upon watching the entire video, we discovered that the Chief Justice had just got up a little to adjust his chair. After this, he sat back on the chair and the hearing continued.

How did we find out?:  In the viral video, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta is seen presenting arguments before the CJI around the donations received by the political parties via the now-banned electoral bonds scheme.

• Taking a cue from the context, we looked for the full video about the hearing on the Electoral Bonds issue on the Supreme Court of India's YouTube channel.

• Recently, the apex court ordered the State Bank to make public the data of donations received by political parties through electoral bonds.

• In the hearing held on 18 March, the SC directed SBI to make public the alphanumeric numbers of electoral bonds. 

• This hearing was live broadcast on the YouTube channel of the Supreme Court.

• At 27:03 in the video, the Chief Justice turns to the side and smiles. 

• At 27:05 minutes, he can be seen adjusting his chair which is also visible in the viral video which has been cut here. Following this, the hearing continued.

Conclusion: It is clear that the video has been clipped to falsely claim that that Supreme Court Chief Justice DY Chandrachud left midway from the hearing of the Electoral Bonds case.

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