Days ahead of his farewell, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, on Thursday, addressed members of the Supreme Court Bar Association to acknowledge “the support he had received” during his tenure.
In his address, the outgoing CJI thanked the nation for all the “affection” and “kindness” that had been bestowed upon him. The 45th CJI will step down from his post on 2 October.
"Don't bless me more than necessary... don’t bless me unnecessarily. I worked 24/7. In the future, I don't know whether people will recognise me or not, but I assure you that I will recognise everyone. I am thankful for all kind of kindness I received," CJI Misra said, as reported by RepublicTV.
CJI Misra, the only topmost judicial officer against whom an impeachment motion was attempted to be moved, told the gathering that he had always done what he “thought was right”, the report stated.
In his final week in office, CJI Misra has presided on a number of benches that delivered key verdicts on crucial cases.
On Wednesday, the apex court's five-judge Constitution bench, headed by CJI Misra, upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and said that it was meant to help benefits reach the marginalised sections of the society and that it takes into account the dignity of people not only from personal but also from the community point of view.
The verdict was pronounced on a batch of pleas challenging the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar scheme and its enabling 2016 law.
Then, on Thursday, the apex court struck down Section 497 of IPC, an archaic provision of Victorian morality that criminalised the act of adultery/sexual relationship with another man’s wife, “without his consent or connivance”, and was based on the premise that the wife is a chattel or property of her husband and the victim of the crime of adultery.
“Women’s individual dignity is important. Husband is not the master of a woman. The Legal sovereignty of one sex over another is wrong. Section 497 is unconstitutional. Equality is the need of the hour.”CJI Dipak Misra, on the adultery verdict.
Following that, a three-judge bench rejected a plea to refer the Ayodhya case to a larger bench on Thursday afternoon.
A day later, in a 4:1 verdict, the Supreme Court, on Friday morning, granted women, between the age of 10 and 50, entry into Kerala's Sabarimala temple, breaking the temple's age-old tradition of restricting menstruating women from entering its premises.
The five-judge bench headed by CJI Misra with Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra pronounced the verdict, with Malhotra dissenting.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi will take over as the next CJI from 3 October. The move came after months of speculation in legal circles over whether Justice Gogoi (the next in line according to seniority) could be superseded when CJI Misra retired.
Justice Gogoi was one of the four Supreme Court judges who held an unprecedented press conference in January 2018, raising concerns about the administration of the Supreme Court and the independence of the judiciary.
(With inputs from PTI)
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