NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India B R Gavai on Thursday said he and Justice K Vinod Chandran were shocked when a lawyer attempted to hurl a shoe at him on October 6, but the issue is a "forgotten chapter."
In an unprecedented and reprehensible incident, a 71-year-old lawyer, Rakesh Kishore, took his shoe in his hand and tried to hurl it at the CJI on Monday.
The act elicited all-around condemnation.
The CJI made the observation during the hearing of a batch of pleas seeking review and modification of the Vanashakti judgement, which had prohibited the central government from granting retrospective or ex post facto environmental clearances to projects found violating environmental norms.
"My learned brother (Justice Chandran) and I were very shocked with what happened on Monday; for us it is a forgotten chapter," the CJI said on the shoe attack.
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, who is sharing the bench, differed with the course of action adopted against the errant lawyer, and said, "I have my own views on this, he is the CJI, it is not a matter of joke!"
Justice Bhuyan said the attack was "an affront to the Supreme Court" and due action should have been taken.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta termed the act unpardonable. calling it a result of misinformation and an attempt at cheap publicity.
The top law officer hailed the CJI for his magnanimity and "majesty."
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was there in the court, asked senior lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan to proceed with the matter and not to discuss the shocking episode any further.
"For us it is a forgotten chapter," the CJI reiterated and proceeded with the hearing.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising had termed the episode "an attack on the institution as a whole."
"I am not an eyewitness to the incident. What I know, I know from what the press has reported. It calls for investigation. I consider it an attack on the institution as a whole, not just the Chief Justice," she said.
"I also consider it a casteist remark against the Chief Justice. It requires a legal response from the Supreme Court of India," Jaising added.
Leaders across party lines also strongly condemned the incident, calling it a disgraceful and alarming reflection of rising intolerance.
The attacker was allegedly unhappy with recent remarks made by the CJI during a PIL seeking restoration of a Lord Vishnu idol in the Khajuraho Temple complex in Madhya Pradesh.
Later he said to TNIE that he had no remorse in the incident and stressed that he "did the right thing."
He claimed that "God provoked" him to attack the CJI and that he considered all the consequences of his actions before launching the attack.
"I considered all the consequences...that I will be going to jail, I will be suffering there...but it was in the name of God, because God was provoking me to do all this," he claimed.
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Thursday terminated the membership of Kishore.
The SCBA called his actions an act of “grave misconduct.”
Following the incident, the Bar Council of India also suspended Kishore’s licence with immediate effect.
Describing the incident as a serious security breach and a “direct assault on judicial independence,” the SCBA said Kishore’s behaviour was “reprehensible, disorderly and a gross violation of professional ethics.”
(With inputs from PTI)
