SC to hear contempt plea on Oct 27 against lawyer who threw shoe at CJI

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on October 27 a petition seeking contempt action against advocate Rakesh Kishore, who hurled a shoe towards Chief Justice of India B R Gavai during court proceedings earlier this month.

According to the cause list of October 27 uploaded on the apex court's website, the plea filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) will come up for hearing before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi.

On October 6, in a shocking security breach, 71-year-old Kishore hurled a shoe towards the CJI in his courtroom, which prompted the Bar Council of India to suspend his licence with immediate effect.

The CJI, who remained unfazed during and after the unprecedented incident, asked the court officials and security personnel present to "just ignore" it and let off the errant lawyer with a warning.

The incident sparked widespread condemnation from different sections of the society, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking to the CJI and calling the attack "reprehensible".

On October 16, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Vikas Singh, who is also the president of the SCBA, sought an urgent listing of the plea for contempt action against Kishore.

Mehta informed the bench that Attorney General R Venkataramani had granted his consent for initiating criminal contempt action against the lawyer as it was a question of institutional integrity.

The right to speech and expression cannot be exercised at the cost of others' dignity and integrity, the apex court had said then.

It had cautioned about the dangers of "unregulated" social media, saying incidents like hurling a shoe towards the CJI were nothing but "money-spinning ventures".

"We are not against freedom of speech and expression, but this right cannot be exercised at the cost of the integrity and dignity of others," a bench headed by Justice Kant had said.

The observation came when Singh pointed out that Kishore had not expressed remorse and was giving interviews, which were circulating on social media, affecting the apex court's institutional integrity.

"Social media has gone berserk over the incident. He is giving interviews and these are going on and on and demeaning the institutional integrity and dignity. Please restrain social media from airing such content. I am seeking an order on the line of a John Doe order," Singh had said.

A John Doe order is a type of a legal order passed by a court that allows a person or entity to take action against an unidentified party or parties.

The court had, on October 16, indicated that the matter might be listed after the Diwali break.