'First lower your pitch:' CJI rebukes lawyer during RG Kar rape case hearing

Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud reprimanded a lawyer on Monday during a hearing on the brutal rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata's R.G. Kar Medical College. The incident occurred during a session where the CJI, along with Justices Manoj Misra and JB Pardiwala, were hearing the case related to RG Kar rape. 

The tension rose when senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the West Bengal government, claimed the lawyer, Kaustav Bagchi, had been involved in stone-throwing at a protest. Bagchi, who is also a BJP leader, strongly objected to Sibal's remarks saying, 'how a senior counsel like him (Sibal) can make such statements in court.'

CJI Chandrachud intervened, asking Bagchi to lower his voice, stating, "You are addressing three judges, not the audience outside."

"Can you first lower your pitch? Listen to the Chief Justice, lower your pitch. You are addressing three judges in front of you, not the large audience who is watching these proceedings on the video conferencing platform," the chief justice said. 

The court, which is hearing a suo moto case in the matter, said if the protesting doctors don't return to work, it can't stop the West Bengal government from taking disciplinary action against them.

He further remarked "Protests cannot continue at the cost of duty," warning that if doctors did not return to work, the court would not prevent the West Bengal government from taking disciplinary action.