Notice, yes; contempt notice, not yet. On the Plea Against October 12 March by Opposition leaders to the Court, the Chief Justice said the Bench would see the responses before deciding how to proceed.
New Delhi: On a petition by four advocates that seeks guidelines on political protests near courts and contempt action over the October 12 march towards the Court, the Supreme Court on Thursday, October 15, issued notice to the Union government, the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, Mahua Moitra and Akhilesh Yadav [Digant Mishra and Others v. Union of India and Others].
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi were on the Bench. Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia appeared for the petitioners, advocates Digant Mishra, Divyansh Bisht, Ashish Gopal Garg and Shweta Garg, who came to the Court through Advocate-on-Record Utkarsh Jaiswal.
Notice on everything but contempt
The respondents were asked to reply to the prayers other than the one on contempt; no notice was issued on the criminal contempt prayer. CJI Surya Kant said the Court would decide its course once the responses were before it. All law enforcement agencies were also directed to preserve the CCTV and other digital footage they had collected.
In the course of the exchange with Bhatia, the Chief Justice said that nobody can browbeat the judiciary and that the Court was alive to what was being said outside it:
“We are not sitting in ivory towers. We know what statements they make outside and what they say in Court. We know everything.”
Bhatia told the Bench that about 200 lawyers had signed a memorandum describing the conduct as browbeating, and submitted that a pregnant woman journalist had been pushed during the march. That was a submission on the petitioners’ side. No response from the persons named has been available, and the Court has recorded no finding on it.
Rules for protests, and contempt
The petitioners ask the Court to frame uniform rules for processions and demonstrations near the Supreme Court and the High Courts, and to bar political demonstrations inside court premises altogether. They also want the CCTV footage and security records of October 12 preserved, and guidelines against political campaigns meant to influence pending judicial proceedings.
Criminal contempt proceedings are sought against Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Akhilesh Yadav and Mahua Moitra, and against the Kerala unit of the Congress over a social media post of October 12 that called on the Chief Justice to resign. According to the petition, Articles 121 and 124(4) of the Constitution give the only mechanism for removing a judge, and it relies on resolutions of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association that condemned calls for the Chief Justice’s resignation. These are the petitioners’ contentions; none has been tested.
The march and what followed
On October 12, Opposition leaders marched to the Supreme Court to press their challenge to the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, and went to the Registry to file that petition. The Court has since issued notice on the INDIA bloc’s petition on the SIR, where the Chief Justice said it would also ask one petitioner about his conduct. The petition now before the Court is a separate one, about the manner of the protest and a post that followed it.
Congress leaders are yet to be heard in this petition, and the Court has expressed no view on the merits of either side’s position. The next date of hearing was not available at the time of writing.
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Case Title: Digant Mishra and Others v. Union of India and Others
Case No.: W.P.(C) No. 1360/2026 (Diary No. 64394/2026)
Bench: CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi
Date of Hearing: October 15, 2026
Appearances: Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia for the petitioners; Advocate-on-Record Utkarsh Jaiswal