Amid the controversy surrounding Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders over their protest at Jantar Mantar, former Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has said that he was not mentoring CJP co-convenor Saurav Das. Justice Kaul claimed that he had met him only a couple of times when Das was a journalist.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul further claimed he advised Saurav Das to tone down his language, adding that the way younger generations communicate can sometimes differ from the more civil language he is used to.
In an interview with ANI, Justice Kaul explained that a photograph of him with Das, taken during a Diwali gathering last year, was now being used to suggest that he shared a particular ideology. He said the meeting was brief and that Das was not in the news at the time. “So, it was one year ago. He was not even in the news then,” Kaul said while explaining the circumstances in which the photograph was taken.
#WATCH | When asked about his association with CJP leader Saurav Das, in an interview to ANI, Former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Sanjay Kishan Kaul says, "…This was one year ago…He was a journalist; maybe met me a couple of times. He was insistent that I must come at Diwali time. I was going somewhere else. I said, "Okay, I’ll drop in for 10 minutes." I told my wife, "Have a cup of coffee; I’ll drop in for 10 minutes, and then we’ll go." That’s all…I was not mentoring him, but once or twice he met me. I told him that, you know, I’ll always tell you to taper down a little in your language. That’s my view, because we belong to a generation where talking is in far more civil language when it happens…I think people need to draw a couple of steps back on the language. At least for people of our generation, we are not used to that language. Okay, so it hurts at times…I wouldn’t like to advise them in any way. Tomorrow you’ll have a news story that I’m advising them…" Watch the full interview at: https://t.co/5M2voI1bqJ
— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2026
Recalling the meeting, the former Supreme Court judge said Das had invited him to attend a Diwali gathering at his residence. Kaul said he was already going somewhere else but agreed to stop by briefly.
“He was a journalist, maybe met me a couple of times. He was insistent that I must, at Diwali time, come. I was going somewhere else. I said, ‘Okay, I’ll drop in for ten minutes.’ I told my wife, ‘Have a cup of coffee, I’ll drop in for ten minutes, and then we’ll go.’ That’s all that happened,” he claimed.
When asked whether he had mentored Das, Kaul denied the claim. However, he acknowledged that he had advised the journalist to be more careful with his choice of words. “I was not mentoring him, but once or twice he met me, I told him that I will always tell you to taper down a little in your language,” he alleged.
Justice Kaul recently made headlines over his remarks about former Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and the process of judicial appointments. Kaul had questioned Chandrachud’s reported practice of seeking the government’s views on proposed appointments before the Supreme Court Collegium formally discussed the names.
Kaul viewed the practice as seeking the government’s “pre-approval” before the Collegium considered the proposed appointments. His remarks triggered a political controversy, with the Congress using them to raise questions about judicial independence under the Modi government.
Around the same time, photographs of Kaul attending the Diwali gathering at the residence of CJP co-convener Saurav Das resurfaced online. The images drew attention because of Das’s recent involvement in a controversy surrounding the party’s protest at Jantar Mantar.
Saurav Das was recently released from Tihar Jail after signing a peace bond before the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM). Under the undertaking, he agreed not to engage in activities that could disturb public peace or tranquillity.
