CJI Dipak Misra has several landmark judgments to his credit (Profile)

Justice Dipak Misra who on Monday was sworn in as Chief Justice of India, succeeding incumbent J.S. Khehar, is known as a man behind many landmark judgments.

CJI Misra, 63, who will hold office for 13 months and six days until his retirement on October 2018, is known as a well-read judge, including of ancient Indian scriptures.

Chief Justice Misra started his practice with the Orissa High Court. He was appointed as Additional Judge of the Orissa High Court on January 17, 1996.

He was later transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court on March 3, 1997.

He became a permanent judge on December 19, 1997.

 

Justice Misra was appointed as Chief Justice of Patna High Court on December 23, 2009. Subsequently, he was transferred as Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on May 24, 2010.

CJI Misra was elevated as a Supreme Court judge on October 10, 2011.

Chief Justice Misra is one of those judges who has a strong nose for the finer nuances of law that contributes in taking the law forward.

In one of his judgments, CJI Misra had said no to marriage as a compromise between a rape accused and the victim.

He had pronounced the judgment upholding the death sentence of four convicts in the December 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case. Justice Misra authoring the judgment had said: "If ever a case called for hanging, this was it."

Chief Justice Misra presided over the bench that struck down the provision of the Cine Costume and Make-up Artists Association prohibiting women make-up artists and hairdressers from becoming its members.

He was the author of the constitution bench judgment that had ruled that criminal defamation was not unconstitutional. He had also passed an order making the playing of the national anthem in cinema halls mandatory.

Chief Justice Misra presided over a bench that saw reversing of the Centre's decision to impose President's rule in Uttarakhand after the ousting of Harish Rawat as Chief Minister of the state.

He along with Justice P.C. Pant and Justice Amitava Roy will be remembered for sitting through the night to hear last minute appeal by 1993 Bombay bomb blasts accused Yaqub Memon against his death sentence after his plea against issuance of death warrant was rejected.

CJI Misra is heading a bench hearing a challenge to Delhi High Court's September 23, 2016 order, allowing messaging app WhatsApp to roll out its new privacy policy but stopping it from sharing its users' data collected up to September 25, 2016, with Facebook or any other related company.

The hearing was adjourned on July 21 as it was felt that the matter would involve the question of right to privacy.

The hearing is likely to continue as a nine-judge constitution bench has ruled that right to privacy is a fundamental right.

At present he is heading the bench that had ordered the auction of Sahara's Aamby Vally property to recover investors money which Sahara's two companies - Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited -- had raised in 2008 and 2009 through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCDs).

Besides the Sahara matter, Chief Justice Misra is also heading the bench that is hearing the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) matter involving reforms in its organisation and functioning.

--IANS

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