New Delhi:
On Friday morning at 10:30 AM, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna’s bench convened as usual to hear a series of cases. Among them was the high-profile ‘India’s Got Latent’ controversy, in which YouTuber and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia or ‘BeerBiceps’ is involved.
As the proceedings began, the lawyer representing Mr Allahbadia appeared before the court. The man has not argued a case in the Supreme Court in the past eight years and six months but his presence caught everyone’s attention. He was Abhinav Chandrachud, a Bombay High Court lawyer and the son of former CJI DY Chandrachud.
Who Is Abhinav Chandrachud
Abhinav Chandrachud’s family name carries weight in India’s judicial circles. His father was appointed Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in May 2016 before becoming the Chief Justice of India. Despite his father’s towering position in the judiciary, Abhinav had never before presented a case in the Supreme Court during his father’s tenure.
At his farewell speech last year, Chief Justice (retd) Chandrachud shared an anecdote about his two sons, Abhinav and Chintan. He recalled how he had once asked them to appear in the Supreme Court, hoping to see them more often. Both, however, declined the offer, citing professional integrity concerns.
In a past interview with NDTV, former Chief Justice (retd) Chandrachud had also reflected on his own career. Between 1982 and 1985, he refrained from appearing in any Indian court while pursuing his studies at Harvard. His father, Justice YV Chandrachud, was India’s longest-serving Chief Justice.
Abhinav Chandrachud is also an accomplished academic and author. He holds a Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD) and a Master of the Science of Law (JSM) from Stanford Law School, where he was a Franklin Family Scholar.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he graduated from Government Law College, Mumbai, in 2008. He later pursued his Master of Laws (LLM) at Harvard Law School as a Dana Scholar. He has also worked as an associate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, an international law firm.
Beyond his legal practice, he has authored several books, including Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India (2017) and Supreme Whispers: Conversations with Judges of the Supreme Court of India 1980-1989 (2018). His opinion pieces have been published in leading Indian newspapers.
The Ranveer Allahbadia Case
Mumbai Police have summoned Ranveer Allahbadia to appear for questioning on Saturday over controversial remarks he made during a YouTube show. The police had initially asked him to appear on Thursday, but when he failed to do so, they issued a second summons for Friday.
On Friday, police teams from both Mumbai and Assam arrived at Mr Allahbadia’s residence in Versova, only to find it locked.
The controversy stems from remarks made by Mr Allahbadia on comedian Samay Raina’s now-deleted YouTube show, ‘India’s Got Latent’. His comments, perceived as crude and offensive, triggered widespread outrage and multiple complaints.
The Assam Police team investigating the matter met with officials from Maharashtra’s Cyber Department on Thursday. They are particularly interested in questioning not only Allahbadia but also fellow YouTubers Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, and Apoorva Makhija, who were featured in the controversial episode.
The Supreme Court has yet to set a fixed date for hearing the petition in which Abhinav Chandrachud appeared virtually before Chief Justice Khanna.
