In April 2021, during the second wave of Covid-19, a judge of the Madras High Court remarked in a hearing that the Election Commission should “probably be booked for murder.” The remark was not part of any written order. The Election Commission went to the Supreme Court about it.
In May 2021 the Supreme Court held that there was no question of expunging the remarks, because oral statements are not part of the judicial record. “We have to make sure that media reports everything that happens in court,” the bench said.