Dipak Misra was sworn in as the 45th chief justice of India on Monday. He was administered the oath by President Ram Nath Kovind. He succeeds Jagdish Singh Khehar and will be in office for a little over 13 months.
The 63-year-old is the judge who headed the bench that had upheld the death sentence for the rapist-murderers of a 23-year-old student in Delhi on December 16, 2012. Misra had also headed the Supreme Court bench that had rejected 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon’s plea for a stay on his execution.
On August 24, the Supreme Court fined former Bigg Boss contestant Swami Om Rs 10 lakh for a “motivated petition” against the Chief Justice of India’s practise of suggesting who succeeds them to the President of India. The petitioners had claimed that the process of the incumbent CJI recommending his successor’s name to the President was against the spirit of the Indian Constitution.
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