Ranjan Gogoi - the former chief justice of India and current Rajya Sabha member - dismissed news reports about him testing positive for COVID-19, in a telephonic conversation with BOOM on Wednesday.
When asked if the news reports that began late Tuesday about him testing positive for the coronavirus are true, Gogoi said, "no, it's not true, it's false."
The denial was also confirmed by legal website Bar & Bench.
Hindi Newspaper Patrika, TV9 Bharatvarsh and OneIndia falsely reported Gogoi had tested positive for COVID-19. The misreporting comes in the backdrop of Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, announcing that they have tested positive for COVID-19.
The headline of Patrika when translated read, "Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi Corona Positive, had pronounced historic decision in favor of Ram Mandir"
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A similar headline was also published by TV9 Bharatvarsh published on August 4, 2020, translates to, "Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi tests Corona positive, had announced the Ram temple verdict in 2019". The article does not cite any source for the information.
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"Coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly in the country. Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has also become corona infected. In November 2019, the bench headed by Ranjan Gogoi had given the verdict of Ram Mandir case," the first line of the article when translated from Hindi states.
One India Hindi also misreported that Gogoi has tested positive for COVID-19 in an article headlined, "Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Justice Ranjan Gogoi Corona Positive"
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Ranjan Gogoi served as the Chief Justice of India between October 2018 and November 2019, during which he had presided over the landmark Ayodhya land dispute case where a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court unanimously decided to allot the disputed Ayodhya plot to a trust that will oversee the construction of a Ram Temple there.
The foundation stone laying ceremony of the Ram Temple on August 5, 2020, is set to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and several other dignitaries. The event has triggered a wave of misinformation that BOOM has debunked.
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