Lawyer tries to hurl shoe at CJI inSC courtroom, BCI suspends licence

In a shocking security breach, a 71-year-old lawyer allegedly attempted to hurl a shoe towards Chief Justice of India B R Gavai in his courtroom in the Supreme Court on Monday, prompting the Bar Council of India to suspend his licence 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 identified as Rakesh Kishore with a warning.
“Don’t get distracted by all this. We are not distracted. These things do not affect me,” the CJI, who was sitting on the bench with Justice K Vinod Chandran, told lawyers and continued hearing the mentioning of cases.
Bar bodies, SCBA and SCAORA, and lawyers including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and political parties strongly condemned the incident as “an attack on the Constitution and the institution as a whole”. Police said Kishore was aged 71.
Kishore, a resident of Mayur Vihar here, was questioned for three hours by Delhi police officials inside the apex court premises and was later allowed to go at 2 PM as no formal complaint was lodged. Police also returned his shoes to him.
Police sources said a note, containing the slogan ‘Sanatan dharma ka apmaan nahi sahega Hindustan’ (India will not tolerate insults to Sanatan Dharma), was recovered by the police from his possession.
“We also found that he was carrying a card of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and the Shahdara Bar Association. While questioning Kishore, the team asked him about his motive for his act. The advocate has claimed that he was unhappy with the CJI’s remarks during a recent hearing of a plea seeking the restoration of a Lord Vishnu idol in the Khajuraho Temple complex in Madhya Pradesh,” the sources said.
According to lawyers, the incident occurred when the CJI-led bench was hearing the mentioning of cases by lawyers.
Kishore approached the dais on a raised platform, removed his shoe and tried to throw it towards the judges.
Alert security personnel present inside the courtroom immediately intervened and foiled an apparent attack.
The lawyer was swiftly escorted out of the court premises. As he was being taken away, the lawyer was heard shouting, “Sanatan ka apman nahi sahenge” (will not tolerate insults to Sanatan Dharma).