'Was shocked': CJI on shoe-hurling episode

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai said on Thursday that he and fellow Supreme Court judge K Vinod Chandran were “shocked” when a lawyer attempted to hurl a shoe at the CJI in the courtroom earlier this week but added that he had “forgotten” about the incident.

- Abraham Thomas and Gerard de Souza

His comments came even as politics spiked over the dramatic incident that took place inside the CJI’s courtroom on Monday. Union minister Ramdas Athawale demanded that the perpetrator, suspended lawyer Rakesh Kishore, be booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as the Opposition alleged government inaction over the issue.

The remarks by CJI Gavai came when it was hearing a review petition seeking recall of a May 16 judgment that set aside two government notifications of 2017 and 2021 permitting development projects to commence work without prior environmental clearance.

As the bench headed by CJI Gavai along with justices Ujjal Bhuyan and K Vinod Chandran was hearing arguments, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan used the expression “kicking and screaming” to describe how earlier judgments dealt with the two notifications.

However, the choice of words drew a response from the CJI.

“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 in what was his first public response after the incident.

Justice Bhuyan appeared to differ with the course of action adopted against the errant lawyer, and said, "I have my own views that this should not be forgotten.

The institution of CJI is not a joke.