The line between a whistle-blower and a motivated accuser can be very thin, and too often those making controversial disclosures face troubling questions over their motive and timing.

Former Supreme Court judge and Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju's startling disclosure that an additional judge of the Madras High Court was improperly given repeated extensions of tenure, and finally made a permanent judge in 2007, despite adverse reports about his integrity, has caused understandable disquiet in legal, judicial and political circles. Read