Justice Surya Kant, who is slated to take over as the Chief Justice of India in May 2025, is a Judge of the Supreme Court of India and the former Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
He is also the former Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
He was then designated as a Senior Advocate in 2001.
Kant was born on February 10, 1962, at Hisar district village Petwar of Haryana. He completed his graduation from the Government Post Graduate College, Hisar, in 1981 and later earned his LL.B from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, in 1984. He acquired his LL.M from Kurukshetra University in 2011.
He was appointed the youngest Advocate General of Haryana on 7 July 2000 and was designated as Senior Advocate in March 2001. Justice Surya Kant held the office of Advocate General till his elevation as a Permanent Judge to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 9 January 2004. He was also nominated as a member of the National Legal Services Authority on 23 February 2007 for two consecutive terms.
On 9 May 2019, the Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi recommended his elevation to the Supreme Court of India. On 24 May 2019, Justice Surya Kant took oath as a judge of the Supreme Court of India.
Observation on Nupur Sharma:
Holding her responsible for her comment that had led to riots in several parts of India, and rejecting her plea, the Supreme Court on Friday blamed sacked BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for igniting tension with her comments on Prophet Muhammad and said, "she and her loose tongue have set the country on fire".
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala slammed Sharma for her statement made during a TV news channel debate and while referring to the Udaipur incident, where two men murdered a tailor, said, "Her outburst is responsible for an unfortunate incident."
The Bench remarked that the outburst by Nupur Sharma was responsible for the incident of Udaipur where a tailor was beheaded on video for allegedly supporting the sacked BJP spokesperson.
The court also rejected Sharma's request to transfer all the FIRs registered against her in many states for her alleged remarks on Prophet Mohammad, to Delhi for investigation.
"What has Delhi police done? Don't make us open our mouths? What was the TV debate for? Only fan an agenda? Why did they choose a sub judice topic?," said Justice Surya Kant slamming Nupur Sharma's plea.
Justice Surya Kant stated, “The way she has ignited emotions across the country… This lady is single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country.”
In other words, Justice Surya Kant made it clear that it is her fault that she spoke in a manner that ‘provoked’ the Islamists of this country and all the Muslims around the world.
(with sources inputs)
