SC Says Not Inclined To Initiate Contempt Against Lawyer Who Hurled Shoe At CJI

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it is not inclined to initiate contempt action against the lawyer who had hurled a shoe towards Chief Justice of India BR Gavai. The court observed that the CJI himself refused to proceed against him.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi stated that even though shouting slogans in court and hurling shoes are clear cases of contempt of court, it depends on the judge concerned whether to proceed or not.

"Issuing contempt notice will only give undue importance to the lawyer who had hurled shoe at the CJI and would increase the shelf life of the incident," the bench said, adding the incident should be allowed to die its own natural death.

The court, however, noted that it will consider laying down guidelines to prevent such incidents.

The plea was filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) seeking contempt action against 71-years-old advocate Rakesh Kishore, who hurled the shoe towards the CJI on October 6 during court proceedings.

On October 16, the top court said the right to speech and expression cannot be exercised at the cost of others' dignity and integrity as it cautioned about the dangers of "unregulated" social media, saying incidents like the recent hurling of shoe towards the CJI are nothing but "money-spinning ventures".

The Attorney General of India, R. Venkataramani, had granted consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against advocate Rakesh Kishore.

With PTI inputs