Thirteen Opposition leaders on Thursday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, urging her to take immediate action against “the troll army” engaged in abusing Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on social media.

The letter was written by Congress MP Vivek Tankha and was supported by party legislators Digvijaya Singh, Shaktisinh Gohil, Pramod Tiwari, Amee Yagnik, Ranjeet Ranjan and Imran Pratapgarhi. The Aam Aadmi Party’s Raghav Chadha, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi and the Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan and Ram Gopal Yadav also supported the letter.

The leaders noted that a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Chandrachud is hearing a case pertaining to government formation in Maharashtra.

In June, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, comprising the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, was toppled after Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, who was the governor at the time, had asked former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to take a trust vote on June 28. Thackeray had resigned a day later after the Supreme Court refused to stay the vote of no confidence.

The development came after Ekanth Shinde led a rebellion of Sena legislators against Thackeray, splitting the party. He then allied with the Bharatiya Janata Part and replaced Thackeray as Maharashtra chief minister.

The Thackeray-led faction has urged the court to set aside the governor’s decision to call for a trust vote.

The signatories to the letter on Thursday said that while the case is sub judice, a “troll army, presumably sympathetic to the interest of the ruling party in Maharashtra, has launched an offensive against the hon’ble chief justice of India”.

The letter further said: “The words and contents are filthy and deplorable, which has garnered views in lakhs on social media platforms.”

The Opposition leaders said that “such despicable conduct” is possible only if such individuals enjoy the support of the ruling dispensation.

“Your excellency and the Constitutional and Statutory authorities in India are dutybound to protect the dignity and decorum of the Indian Judiciary,” the letter said.

The signatories said that the alleged abuse of Chief Justice Chandrachud was “a brazen case of interference with the course of justice”.

They added: “We expect immediate action not only against the persons indulging in [trolling], but also against people behind it, i.e supporting and sponsoring it.”