AG Venkataramani grants consent for criminal contempt proceedings against suspended lawyer who attempted to hurl shoe at CJI Gavai

New Delhi [India], October 16 (ANI): Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani, on Thursday granted consent to the initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against suspended advocate Rakesh Kishore, who attempted to throw a shoe at the Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai inside the courtroom, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Supreme Court.

The AG said that suspended advocate Kishore acts and utterances are not only scandalous but also calculated to demean the majesty and authority of the Supreme Court.

The AG, while granting consent for criminal contempt action against the lawyer said such behaviour strikes at the very foundation of the justice delivery system.

In his letter to senior advocate Vikas Singh, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), who sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the advocate, AG says Kishore conduct has the clear tendency to lower public confidence in the institution of the judiciary, and more so of the highest court.

Earlier, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai expressed that his brother Justice K Vinod Chandran and he were shocked by the shoe-hurling attempt made by a 71-year-old lawyer Rajesh Kishore on October 6. The CJI, however, also added that it is now a forgotten chapter for the Court.

The comments came while the CJI bench was hearing an unrelated matter where Senior Advocate Gopal Sankarnarayan had appeared.

Following the CJI comment, his brother, Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan, condemned the failed attack. Highlighting the seriousness of the incident, Justice Bhuyan said that it not a matter of joke, it an affront to the institution.

The Solicitor General of India (SGI), Tushar Mehta, who was also present in the Court, concurred with the view and said that the act was unpardonable. It was the CJI magnanimity that the said attacker was pardoned by the Court, Mehta added.

The said attack occurred on October 6 when the septuagenarian entered Court No. 1 and attempted to throw a shoe towards the CJI-led bench. According to the attacker, the motive behind his attack was that he was disgruntled by the CJI remarks that were made recently during the hearing of a plea that sought restoration of a beheaded structure of Lord Vishnu in a temple in Khajuraho. (ANI)

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