‘For Us, It’s A Forgotten Chapter’: CJI Gavai Breaks Silence On Attempted Attack In Supreme Court

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Justice BR Gavai on Thursday broke his silence over the shocking incident earlier this week when a lawyer attempted to hurl a shoe at him inside the Supreme Court.

Describing the episode as a “forgotten chapter”, the CJI said he and his colleague on the bench had been “very shocked” by what had transpired but had since moved on.

“My learned brother and I were very shocked with what happened on Monday… for us, it is a forgotten chapter,” CJI Gavai remarked during a brief exchange in court.

According to reports, the remarks came amid a discussion that also involved Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who recalled a similar incident from a decade ago. “I also wrote an article on this.. something similar happened 10 years ago in the neighbouring court. The two judges there had taken a different view on what procedure should be followed while invoking contempt powers,” he said.

Earlier this week, a lawyer identified as Rakesh Kishore had been detained after he attempted to throw a shoe at the CJI while proceedings were underway. The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) subsequently suspended and later terminated Kishore’s temporary membership, calling the act “unprecedented and disgraceful”.

While the incident had sparked outrage across the legal fraternity, Thursday’s remarks by the CJI appeared to signal a desire to de-escalate the matter and restore normalcy in the court’s functioning.

“For us, it is a forgotten chapter,” the CJI reiterated.

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