AltNews co-founder Pratik Sinha takes a jibe at Justice Markandey Katju for copying tweet

Pratik Sinha took to social media to allege that Justice Markandey Katju copied an allegory for a piece on the Ayodhya verdict in Punjab Today.

AltNews co-founder Pratik Sinha and former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju | Twitter

New Delhi: AltNews co-founder Pratik Sinha Monday claimed former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju had copied his tweet in an article.

Taking a playful dig, Sinha late Sunday posted a screenshot of Katju’s article and highlighted an allegory about a bully taking away a child’s sandwich with the comment: “I seem to have read the highlighted allegory somewhere.” Sinha added a text-version of the wink emoji.

I seem to have read the highlighted allegory somewhere 😉 pic.twitter.com/U6Yi9XDYtC

— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) November 10, 2019

Katju’s article, titled The Ayodhya verdict — Sanctifying aggression: Well done, My Lords!, was published on 10 November in Punjab Today. A perusal of Sinha’s Twitter timeline shows he posted a tweet with a very similar allegory on 9 November.

A bully snatches a kid's sandwich in school. He also thrashes the kid's friend who comes to his rescue. The teacher intervenes and let's the bully keep the sandwich, and gives the kid a slice of dry bread. The principal appreciates the teacher and calls it a 'balanced judgment'.

— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) November 9, 2019

Twitter users responded with jokes about how Sinha was the kid whose sandwich was snatched, and Katju using the allegory was a form of flattery. In an unrelated tweet,  Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had also quoted Sinha’s allegory, and attributed it to him.

"A bully snatches a kid's sandwich in school. He also thrashes the kid's friend who comes to his rescue. The teacher intervenes and let's the bully keep the sandwich, and gives the kid a slice of dry bread. The principal appreciates the teacher and calls it a 'balanced judgment'"

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) November 10, 2019

Katju, though, attributed the allegory to Sinha in a different article on the Ayodhya verdict, published in TheWire. The article was published Monday morning. However, he didn’t post any clarification regarding the previous article until the time of publishing this report.

A former chairman of the Press Council of India, Katju isn’t new to controversy or controversial statements. In June 2016, he advised men to “keep away from women and become brahmacharis”. On another occasion, he said the AAP government should distribute ration cards too. “It will be useful in getting consensual sex,” he said.

AAP leader Atishi criticised his tweet, saying, “Pls don’t tag me in such indecent tweets, Mr Katju. As a public figure, you should know where to draw the line. (sic)”