Mumbai: A day after a lawyer flung his shoes at Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai inside the courtroom, his sister Kirti R. Arjun has expressed concern over the “silence” maintained by the government.

“The attack was not on an individual but on the representative of the highest court … on a constitutional position. Yet, there has been no response from the government. It is disturbing,” Kirti told The Wire.

Kirti, an educationist and president of the Shri Dadasaheb Gawai Charitable Trust, said her response to the incident is not just in her capacity as Gavai's sister, but also as someone responsible for “shaping the future of young minds”.

“The attack was an attempt to insult the Constitution of India. It is by far the most condemnable act and one has to register their protest against such a repugnant act,” she said.

Rakesh Kishore, a 71-year-old senior advocate, has said he was offended by Justice Gavai's remarks while dismissing a public interest litigation (PIL).

The PIL sought to restore a dilapidated statue of Hindu god Vishnu in one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh. While dismissing it as a stunt, Justice Gavai had said in an open court: “Go and ask the deity himself to do something. If you are saying that you are a strong devotee of Lord Vishnu, then you pray and do some meditation.”

This apparently angered Kishore and according to the Delhi police, he had carried a chit with him on Monday (October 6) that said “sanatan dharma ka apmaan, nahi sahega Hindustan” (‘India will not tolerate insults to sanatan dharma’) – a slogan that he reportedly also raised in the CJI's court.

After the attack, Justice Gavai continued with his daily court proceedings and said he wouldn't be fazed by such disruptions. He also decided to not press any charges.

“I am aware that my brother decided to not pursue a criminal case against the attacker. And he is the ultimate person to decide how he would like to respond to the incident. But such incidents can't go unchecked,” Kirti said.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union law and justice minister Arjun Ram Meghwal have condemned the incident, no ministry has issued a statement speaking out against what happened.

The Delhi police also let Kishore go without lodging a case after questioning him for around three hours on Monday.

Gavai is the only second judge from the Dalit community to have ever risen to the position of Chief Justice of India. Kirti said that although he is an Ambedkarite, her brother is also a secular person.

“He never said anything derogatory against any religion. He, like anyone else from the Gavai family, is a secular person and shows respect to every religion. You will find him paying a visit to places of worship across religions,” she said in defence of her brother.

Just last week, the Gavai family was in the news when the chief justice's mother Kamaltai had reportedly agreed to attend one of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)'s centenary events in Amravati but later issued a statement alleging a conspiracy and saying that the remarks were falsely attributed to her.

She also explained that she is an Ambedkarite and that even if she had attended the event, she would have only presented Ambedkarite thoughts on the RSS's platform.

When asked if her mother's decision to not attend the event also played a role in the incident that transpired in the apex court on Monday, Kirti responded that anything she could say at this stage would amount to conjecture.

“There is no information in the public domain to connect the two incidents. So, I won't [connect them] either,” she said.

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