Supreme Court Closes Suo Motu Case on NCERT Class 8 Judicial-Corruption Chapter After Revised Text, Apologies

The proceedings began after a newspaper report of 24.02.2026 on NCERT's Grade 8 textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond, whose Chapter 4 on the judiciary had a sub-topic on corruption in the judiciary (para 4). On 26.02.2026 the Court took suo motu cognizance, finding a prima facie attempt to undermine the judiciary, ordered the book withdrawn, banned its further publication and issued notices to the NCERT Director and the Education Secretary (paras 5-6). Both apologised unconditionally, 82,440 copies were recalled, and the Centre set up a committee of Justice Indu Malhotra, K.K. Venugopal and Professor Prakash Singh (paras 8, 10).

The Bench first clarified, on an application, that para 5 of its order of 22.05.2026 merely recorded the Solicitor General's statement that the curriculum had not gone before the committee at all levels, and was not an observation or order of the Court (paras 1-3). On the main matter, it noted that the expert committee, working with the National Judicial Academy and the reconstituted twenty-member NSTC, had reviewed Chapter 4 and other material, and that the revised chapter was in classroom use (paras 11-14). Having read the report and the revised text, it found the text objective, factually accurate and balanced, neither glorifying nor unfairly disparaging the judiciary (para 14). Given the apologies, the recall, the reconstitution of the NSTC and the completed review, the object of the proceedings stood substantially achieved (para 15). The Court reiterated that the judiciary is not averse to fair, informed criticism, which belongs in the appropriate forum and not, unverified, in a school curriculum: "The distinction lies not between criticism and silence, but between responsible discourse and uninformed assertion" (para 18).