The judgments of Justice Dipak Misra, who will, later this month, take over as the next Chief Justice of India, are unique as they have a literary and sometimes poetic quality.
Coming from a family in Odisha that has a rich literary heritage, Misra revels in quoting from ancient Indian texts as well as western classics. His paternal grandfather was famous Odiya poet Godabarish Misra.
Amiable, soft spoken and ever smiling, the 63-year-old Misra, who will take over as the 45th CJI on August 27 and will be in office for a little over a year, has given judgments that are remembered for the impact that they have had.
Misra headed the Supreme Court bench which held court past midnight to hear a last ditch plea from Yakub Memon, convicted for the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai and sentenced to death. The bench had turned down Memon's plea against the death penalty. More recently, he upheld the death sentence handed down to the rapists and killers of Nirbhaya.
One of his most memorable judgments is the one on playing of the national anthem in cinema halls. It gave rise to a huge debate on whether it was proper to impose playing of the national anthem on people who had simply gone to watch a movie, why movie halls were singled out for it and also the extent to which the judgement could be implemented.
In another important judgment, a bench headed by Misra asked the government to find ways to ban websites containing child pornography.
Misra, whose paternal uncle was former CJI Ranganath Misra, began his career in law as an advocate in 1977, practising in the Orissa High Court and the Service Tribunal. He was appointed as Additional Judge of the Odisha High Court in 1996. He assumed charge as Chief Justice of the Patna High Court on December 23, 2009, and Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on May 24, 2010. He was made Judge of the Supreme Court on October 10, 2011.
