In a bizarre incident, a 71-year-old lawyer attempted to hurl a shoe towards Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai in his courtroom in the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, prompting the Bar Council of India (BCI) 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”.
Kishore, a resident of Mayur Vihar, was questioned for three hours by Delhi Police officials inside the Supreme Court premises and was later allowed to go at 2 pm as no formal complaint was lodged. Police also returned his shoes. Police officials 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,” said the officials.
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 dharma ka apmaan nahi sahega” (will not tolerate insults to Sanatan Dharma).
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta described the act as “unfortunate and condemnable”, calling it a result of misinformation and an attempt at cheap publicity. “Today’s incident in the chief justice’s court is unfortunate and deserves condemnation. This is the result of misinformation in social media. It is really heartening that the chief justice of India reacted with magnanimity. I only hope that this magnanimity is not treated by others as the weakness of the institution,” the top law officer said.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) swung into action and swiftly ordered immediate suspension of Rakesh Kishore. Issuing the interim suspension order, BCI chairperson and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra said the advocate’s act was “prima facie inconsistent with the dignity of the court” and in clear violation of the professional conduct rules prescribed under the Advocates Act, 1961 and Bar Council of India Rules.
“On the basis of prima facie material, it appears that at about 11.35 am on 6 October 2025, in Court Number 1 of the Supreme Court of India, you ie Advocate Rakesh Kishore, enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi vide enrolment nos, removed your sports shoes and attempted to hurl them towards the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India during ongoing proceedings, whereupon you were detained by security,” the BCI said.
According to lawyers, the incident could be linked to the lawyer’s unhappiness over the CJI’s remarks during a hearing last month concerning the restoration of a Vishnu idol in Khajuraho. A bench headed by the CJI had dismissed the plea seeking directions to reconstruct and reinstall a seven-foot idol of Lord Vishnu at the Javari temple, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Khajuraho temple complex in Madhya Pradesh. Terming the plea a “publicity interest litigation”, the CJI had said, “This is purely publicity interest litigation. Go and ask the deity himself to do something. If you are saying that you are a strong devotee of Lord Vishnu, then you pray and do some meditation.” Taking note of the online criticism of his comments, the CJI later said he respects “all religions”.