Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak has publicly called out legal news portal Bar & Bench for what he termed “engagement farming” and biased reporting, after the platform posted a clipped courtroom exchange between him and Justice J.B. Pardiwala during a Supreme Court hearing.
The viral post by Bar & Bench, part of its #CourtroomExchange series, focused on a moment where the term “plaintiff” was mistakenly used instead of “complainant” in a translated First Information Report (FIR). The error, which occurred in a bail matter stemming from a murder case in Uttarakhand, led to a brief reprimand by the bench.
The Court reads an FIR with “plaintiff” written instead of “complainant”.
Justice Pardiwala: have you translated this FIR?
Sr Adv J Sai Deepak: Yes
Justice Pardiwala: and you’ve written plaintiff and defendant in an FIR?
Sai Deepak: it’s an error. My… pic.twitter.com/Y58EgE4D0X
— Bar and Bench (@barandbench) July 17, 2025
Bar & Bench’s post did not mention that J. Sai Deepak was representing the brother of the deceased and had moved the Supreme Court to challenge the bail granted to one of the accused by the Uttarakhand High Court. Nor did the post mention that the Supreme Court had, after hearing the matter, issued notice to the Investigating Officer and ordered his presence at the next hearing — signaling that the case had, in fact, progressed meaningfully despite the minor translation glitch.
“I did what any Senior Advocate would do”
In a public clarification, Sai Deepak explained that the translation error had not been made by him but by junior briefing counsel – a routine delegation in senior advocacy practice. Nevertheless, he took full responsibility and offered an apology in court, as is expected of any Senior Advocate.
As a Senior Advocate, even if the briefing counsel or translator makes an error, it is my duty to tender an apology on their behalf without pointing fingers in Court. After all, a Senior Advocate doesn’t file or translate documents,” he wrote on his X handle.
He further praised his young team for having “done a fabulous job of putting the case together”, emphasizing that minor typos should not distract from the gravity of the case, a murder investigation, or the effective legal challenge mounted before the apex court.
Sai Deepak also accused Bar & Bench of long-standing hostility due to his ideological stance.
“Bar & Bench has had a problem with me for a while now, because I am from the non-Left,” he wrote. “Another Left leaning portal too has a similar issue. Unfortunately for them, the Bar and the Bench know what I bring to the Court-value & impact. So these portals resort to pedestrian pettiness.”
He alleged that instead of covering the legal substance of the matter or the Supreme Court’s directions, Bar & Bench chose to sensationalize a routine courtroom exchange to “further a narrative” and drive social media engagement at his expense.
Sai Deepak wrote, “If @barandbench wanted to present the complete picture, it should have reported that this was a murder case in which bail had been granted to one of the accused by the Uttarakhand High Court. I appeared for the brother of the dead boy in the SC challenging the grant of bail. Importantly, despite the initial minor hiccup with respect to a few typos in the translated documents, the Supreme Court issued notice in the Petition to the Investigating Officer and has directed his presence on the next date of hearing. In other words, the hearing went well.”
1.Unfortunate engagement farming by @barandbench.As a Senior Advocate,even if the briefing counsel or translator makes an error,it is my duty to tender an apology on their behalf without pointing fingers in Court.After all,a Senior Advocate doesn't file or translate documents. https://t.co/abRGeqEM1W
— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) July 17, 2025
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