Shri Justice Dipak Misra was sworn in as the 45th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India at a ceremony held on August 28, 2017 in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan. He made and subscribed to the oath of office before the President.
Justice Mishra enrolled at the Bar on 14 February 1977 and practised at the Orissa High Court and the Service Tribunal. He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Orissa High Court in 1996 and was later transferred the following year to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, where he was made a Permanent Judge on 19 December 1997. In December 2009, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and served until May 2010, when he was appointed Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He served in the latter capacity until his elevation to the Supreme Court on 10 October 2011.
Justice Mishra served a tenure of almost seven years at the Supreme Court and has been appointed the 45th Chief Justice of India from 28 August 2017 till 2 October 2018, the day he retires on turning 65 years in age. Justice Mishra will be serving as the CJI for a term of 13 months and will retire on October 02, 2018.
Justice Mishra led the bench which rejected the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon’s appeal to stop his execution. He then received a death threat in writing, an anonymous letter which says “irrespective of the protection you may avail, we will eliminate you.” But despite all dangers, he successfully punished Yakub Menon with a death penalty.
A three judge bench led by Justice Mishra has upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts of the Nirbhaya rape case on 5th May, 2017.
He was also part of the Bench of the Supreme Court’s seven senior-most judges who convicted then Calcutta High Court judge C. S. Karnan, of contempt of court and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment.
