New Delhi: In an unprecedented and shocking incident, an elderly lawyer 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 license with immediate effect.

As the attempt by the lawyer Rakesh Kishore during the court proceedings sparked widespread condemnation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the CJI and said the attack was "reprehensible" and angered every Indian. "The attack on him earlier today in the Supreme Court premises has angered every Indian. There is no place for such reprehensible acts in our society. It is utterly condemnable," Modi posted on X. The Prime minister also praised Gavai for maintaining calm.

The CJI, who remained unfazed during and after the incident, asked the court officials and security personnel present inside the courtroom to “just ignore” it and to let off the errant lawyer with a warning. Police said Kishore was aged 71. "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. 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). Bar bodies SCBA and Supreme Court Advocates-On-Record Association (SCAORA), Delhi High Court Bar Association 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 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. Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in a statement, said it is not just an attack

on the CJI but on our Constitution and no words are enough to condemn such an act. "No words are adequate to condemn the attack on the Honourable Chief Justice of India in the Supreme Court itself.