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The people’s newsroom

PoliticsSupreme Court

'Nobody can browbeat judiciary': Supreme Court notice to Congress and Rahul Gandhi over march

A plea objects to Monday's INDIA bloc march to the court and to a social media post against the Chief Justice. Akhilesh Yadav and others have also been served notice.

From the editorial desk · New DelhiPublished
Supreme Court of India building and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (file photos)
Supreme Court of India building and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (file photos)Photos: Pinakpani / Wikimedia Commons; Rahul Gandhi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 and CC BY 3.0

Key points

  1. The court issued notice to the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and others on a plea over the march.
  2. "Nobody can browbeat judiciary. We are not sitting in ivory towers," the bench said.
  3. An advocate has asked the Chief Justice to consider suo motu criminal contempt over a deleted Congress post.

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Congress, Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others on a plea objecting to Monday’s INDIA bloc march to the court, and made a pointed remark about pressure on the judiciary.

“Nobody can browbeat judiciary. We are not sitting in ivory towers,” the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said.

The plea concerns the opposition march on 12 October, when leaders walked from Connaught Place towards the court to file their petition against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, and a post on X against the Chief Justice. Senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia objected in court to processions near the Supreme Court and to conduct inside its precincts.

The post at the centre of the row came from the Congress’s Keralam unit, which told the Chief Justice to resign after he described the Delhi protests as a law and order matter. It was deleted the same evening.

A call for contempt

Advocate Vineet Jindal has asked the Chief Justice to consider starting criminal contempt proceedings on the court’s own motion over that post and the march. He has also asked for an examination of a reported demonstration at the Supreme Court registry while the petition was being filed, including CCTV footage, access-control logs and security records.

The march plea was heard on the same day the court took up the bloc’s petition against the SIR and said it wanted one of the petitioners to explain his conduct.