The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday asked the attorney general (AG) and the Supreme Court’s Bar body to give suggestions to prevent recurrence of incidents like attempted shoe hurling at Chief Justice of India BR Gavai in court premises. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, which had shown its reluctance in initiating criminal contempt proceedings against 71-year-old lawyer Rakesh Kishore, who attempted to throw a shoe at the CJI, said the court will look into whatever needs to be done.
Justice Kant told counsels appearing for the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to give their suggestions as the court would look to formulate pan-India preventive guidelines. “Just think of giving three-four suggestions on how to prevent such incidents in places like court premises and bar rooms, etc. All of you please give suggestions. Whatever requires to be done, we will see on the next date. We will request the attorney general also to give his suggestions in this regard,” Justice Kant said, while adjourning the matter.
The bench was hearing a plea of the SCBA seeking contempt action against advocate Kishore, who attempted to hurl a shoe towards the CJI on October 6 during court proceedings.
Noting that the CJI himself had refused to proceed against Kishore, the Supreme Court had said shouting slogans in court and hurling shoes are clear cases of contempt of court but it all depends on the judge concerned under the law whether to proceed or not. It had said that issuing a contempt notice would only give undue importance to the lawyer who had hurled the shoe towards the CJI and would increase the shelf life of the incident, underscoring that the incident should be allowed to die its own natural death. Kishore’s act prompted the Bar Council of India (BCI) to suspend his licence with immediate effect.
