Not inclined to initiate contempt against lawyer who hurled shoe at CJI: SC

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

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi 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.

"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 bench was hearing a plea of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) seeking contempt action against 71-year-old advocate Rakesh Kishore, who hurled the shoe towards the CJI on October 6 during court proceedings.

The top court said it will consider laying down guidelines to prevent such incidents. It asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to collate details of incidents like shoe-throwing incidents in different courts.

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".

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

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

The incident has sparked widespread condemnation across different sections of society, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking to the CJI.