SC to hear plea in shoe-hurling attack on CJI on Monday

The Supreme Court will hear on October 27 a petition seeking initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against advocate Rakesh Kishore for allegedly attempting to hurl a shoe at CJI BR Gavai during court proceedings on October 6.

According to the cause list of October 27 uploaded on the top court's website, the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) contempt plea will come up for hearing before a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

Attorney General R Venkataramani had on October 16 granted his consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against Kishore, who attempted to hurl a shoe at CJI BR Gavai on October 6 over alleged insult to the Sanatan Dharam.

“I hereby grant my consent under Section 15(1)(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, for the initiation of contempt proceedings against Rakesh Kishore before the Supreme Court,” Venkataramani said in a letter to SCBA president Vikas Singh, who had sought his consent on the issue.

"No person can have any reason whatsoever to scandalise the court. Throwing or attempting to throw any object aimed at the Hon'ble Judges, or shouting at judges to find fault with the conduct of proceedings will be scandalous. The reason said to have been given by Kishore can never be in justification of such scandalous conduct. Such acts constitute a grave affront to the dignity of the court and to the rule of law itself. From the materials placed on record, I find Kishore has not shown any repentance as regards the conduct in question as is evident from his subsequent utterances,” Venkataramani wrote to the SCBA president.

After obtaining the Attorney General’s consent, Singh had mentioned it before a Bench, led by Justice Surya Kant, for urgent listing. Agreeing to list the matter after Diwali vacations, the Bench had wondered if the issue should be revived again for social media discussions, given the fact that CJI Gavai himself declined to pursue further legal action against the lawyer. "The CJI has shown magnanimity and it shows that the institution is not affected as such," Justice Kant had noted.

On the other hand, the SCBA has terminated the membership of Kishore for “grave misconduct” with immediate effect. The Bar Council of India – which regulates the legal profession in the country – has also suspended Kumar's Bar licence with immediate effect.

After the October 6 incident, CJI Gavai had said that he was “shocked”, but now the issue was a "forgotten chapter".

"My learned brother (Justice K Vinod Chandran) and I were very shocked with what happened… For us, it’s a forgotten chapter," the CJI had said on October 9.