“The then CJI [Dipak Misra] was working under some influence of some external source. He was remote-controlled by an external source... ” Justice Joseph told PTI on Monday.

The Congress has said the statement made by retired Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph on the January 12 press conference by four judges against then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra only “proved” its allegation that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was interfering with the judiciary at the highest level.”

Apart from a response from the Prime Minister, the party demanded separate judicial and parliamentary inquiries into Justice Joseph’s charge.

“The then CJI was working under some influence of some external source. He was remote-controlled by an external source. There was some influence of some external source that was impacting the administration of justice,” Justice Joseph told PTI on Monday.

Earlier, days after his retirement, Justice Joseph told a newspaper that the four most senior judges of the top court addressed the press only after they “felt” that Justice Misra was under external influence and allocated cases to judges with political biases. Justice Joseph did not spell out who or what the external influence was.

“Justice Joseph has in clear and unequivocal terms talked of the arbitrary Bench selection, external influences, by implication remote controls, and political biases injected into the system by the Government of India, by the ruling party,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said at a press conference on Monday.

“We, therefore, demand a response from the Prime Minister, and we demand it immediately. The nation rightfully wants to know the true nature, the true extent, the degree and the subject matter of interference talked about. We further condemn this unconstitutional, invasive and illegal effort by the government,” he said.

Neither the BJP nor the government have reacted to the remarks of Justice Joseph or the Congress.