The official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India was hacked on Friday. This channel is usually used to live-stream important court hearings, especially cases heard by the Constitution Bench and other matters of public interest. However, after the hack, it started showing videos that promote XRP, a type of cryptocurrency created by Ripple Labs, a company based in the United States.
The hacking came to notice when a strange video titled “Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple Responds To The SEC’s $2 Billion Fine! XRP PRICE PREDICTION” was streamed on the channel. Brad Garlinghouse is the CEO of Ripple Labs, a company that is involved in a legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The hackers also seem to have hidden earlier videos of Supreme Court hearings by making them private.
This hack happened at a time when the Supreme Court was about to hear some very important cases. One of these is a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that asks for a fixed time limit for the government to approve the appointment of judges recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium. Another important case is SpiceJet’s appeal against a Delhi High Court decision that grounded three of its aircraft engines due to non-payment issues.
Additionally, the Supreme Court was also set to hear a case from the Muslim side challenging an Allahabad High Court order. This order had rejected their objections in cases filed by Hindu parties over the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute, a long-standing religious issue.
