"He (Justice Katju) is a respected gentleman. We request him to come in person and debate his Facebook post criticising the judgment. Let him come to the court and let's debate over the fundamental flaws in our verdict," a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and U U Lalit said and issued a notice to Justice Katju.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who was assisting the top court in the matter, said "I think it is for the first time that the Supreme Court has asked its former judge to appear in person before it in connection with any matter".
The bench also kept the review petitions filed by Kerala and Soumya's mother in abeyance saying it would debate with Justice Katju on his facebook post.
"Though arguments have been elaborate and stands concluded, we do not consider it appropriate to express any opinion on the contentions advanced at this stage. This is so because we are of the view that a connected issue which has arisen needs to be resolved in the first instance," the bench said referring to the blog of Justice Katju.
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While issuing notice to Justice Katju, the bench also
quoted his Facebook post criticising the Soumya case verdict, which said "It is regrettable that the Court has not read section 300 carefully. The judgment needs to be reviewed in an open court hearing".
In another post on the same issue, Justice Katju had written "I submit that the Supreme Court has erred in law in not holding the accused guilty of murder, and its judgment needs to be reviewed to this extent".
Following the apex court order, the state as well as Soumya's mother had filed review petitions.