Published Oct 15, 2026 | 4:53 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 15, 2026 | 4:54 PM
The Congress’s ‘Chalo Delhi’ march to the Supreme Court. (Videograb)
Synopsis: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant declined to initiate contempt notices at this stage, observing that “we are not sitting in ivory towers, we know what statements they are making outside and what they are saying in Court. We know everything.”
The Supreme Court on Thursday, 15 October, issued notice, based on a petition raising concerns over the 12 October march to the Court and entering the court registry, to the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders.
According to the Bar and Bench, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi sought the responses of Gandhi and others on a plea filed by four lawyers seeking restrictions on political demonstrations inside court premises.
The plea was filed by advocates Digant Mishra, Divyansh Bisht, Ashish Gopal Garg and Shweta Garg through advocate-on-record Utkarsh Jaiswal.
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“Regulating processions and protests in the vicinity of the Supreme Court and High Court. That is the prayer. It is completely unacceptable that this Supreme Court is seized with processions and what has happened within the precincts of the Supreme Court. This cannot happen. I must share the anguish of lawyers practising in the Supreme Court. Two hundred of them have signed a memorandum. They have stated very clearly that this kind of conduct amounted browbeating of the judiciary,” said Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia, appearing for the petitioners.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant responded, “Nobody can browbeat the judiciary.”
“We are not sitting in ivory towers; we know what statements they are making outside and what they are saying in Court. We know everything,” the CJI added.
While the petition urged criminal contempt against political leaders including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, CJI stated, “No contempt today. We are only issuing notice. Let us see what the response is, and then we will take it forward.”
LiveLaw further reported that the Court directed all law enforcement agencies to preserve CCTV or any other digital footage/material collected by them. The petition also seeks guidelines against political campaigns intended to influence pending judicial proceedings.
The plea was also filed against the INC Keralam X post targeting the CJI. The post was pulled down a little while later.
It read: “Dear Surya Kant, if law and order is not your domain, resign now. We will find your replacement who can handle it.”
The remark was in response to the CJI’s reported observation that law and order was not his domain, amid stringent security restrictions imposed by Delhi Police during protests in the national capital demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The petition said that the post addressed the CJI by name, without the courtesy of his title and sought to coerce a sitting Chief Justice who had declined to discuss sub judice matters outside the courtroom.
It also referred to a post by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra the same evening: “Surya clearly can’t. So we will.”
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The Congress Keralam unit has removed a person responsible for a controversial social media post targeting Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.
It also follows a public disavowal of the post by the party’s national leadership.
Announcing the action on Monday, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said the post had been published without the knowledge, approval or consultation of the state party leadership. The circumstances surrounding its publication would be examined, he said, adding that the person responsible had been removed from duty. Joseph clarified that the Congress had no reservations about the impartiality of the judiciary and that social media posts suggesting otherwise did not represent the position of the KPCC leadership.
The controversy also prompted a response from the Congress leadership at the national level. Party MP and spokesperson Pawan Khera said the party completely disagreed with the post, irrespective of who had published it. Reaffirming the Congress’s faith in the judiciary, he said the party respected the Supreme Court and had approached it precisely because of its confidence in the judicial system.
The BJP accused the Congress of threatening the head of the judiciary. Party national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari criticised the post in a message on X, alleging that it amounted to an insult to the Constitution and an attack on an independent constitutional institution. He also accused the Congress of placing the Gandhi-Vadra family above constitutional principles.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
