Sharad Bobde
{{short description|47th Chief Justice of India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sharad Arvind Bobde
| image = File:Hon'ble Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| order =
| office = 47th Chief Justice of India
| termstart = 18 November 2019
| termend = 23 April 2021
| president = Ram Nath Kovind
| predecessor = Ranjan Gogoi
| successor = N. V. Ramana
| office1 = Judge of the Supreme Court of India
| term_start1 = 12 April 2013
| term_end1 = 17 November 2019
| nominator1 = Altamas Kabir
| appointer1 = Pranab Mukherjee
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 =
| office2 = 21st Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court
| term_start2 = 16 October 2012
| term_end2 = 11 April 2013
| nominator2 = Altamas Kabir
| appointer2 = Pranab Mukherjee
| predecessor2 = Syed Rafat Alam
| successor2 = Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar
| office3 = Judge of the Bombay High Court
| term_start3 = 29 March 2000
| term_end3 = 15 October 2012
| nominator3 = Adarsh Sein Anand
| appointer3 = K. R. Narayanan
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1956|04|24}}
| birth_place = Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
| death_date =
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| nationality =
| spouse = Kamini Bobde
| party =
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| residence =
| alma_mater = Nagpur University (BA, LLB)
| occupation =
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| signature =
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}}
Sharad Arvind Bobde (born 24 April 1956) is an Indian judge who served as the 47th Chief Justice of India from 18 November 2019 to 23 April 2021.{{cite news|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/two-judges-sworn-in-supreme-court-strength-raised-to-30_841611.html|title=Two judges sworn in Supreme Court, strength raised to 30|publisher=Zee News Portal|date=12 April 2013}}
He is a former Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.{{cite web|url=http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/judges/sjud/sabobde.htm|title=Chief Justice of India & Sitting Hon'ble Judges Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde|publisher= Supreme Court of India portal}} He is also the former Chancellor of Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai and Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur. He had a tenure of eight years in the Supreme Court of India and retired on 23 April 2021.{{Cite web|title=Justice SA Bobde appointed next Chief Justice of India, to take oath on 18 November|url=https://theprint.in/judiciary/justice-sa-bobde-appointed-next-chief-justice-of-india-to-take-oath-on-18-november/312754/|last=PTI|date=2019-10-29|website=ThePrint|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-21}} On 24 April 2021, N. V. Ramana succeeded him as the CJI.{{Cite web|title=Sharad Arvind Bobde retires: A look at 47th CJI's tenure.|date=23 April 2021 |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/sharad-arvind-bobde-retires-a-look-at-47th-cjis-tenure/videoshow/82213691.cms}}
Family and early life
Bobde comes from a Nagpur-based Marathi family. His great-grandfather Ramachandra Pant Bobde was a noted lawyer in Chandrapur (erstwhile Chanda) between 1880 and 1900.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrA7AAAAMAAJ|title=Marāṭhī vāñmayakośa: Marāṭhī granthakāra, I. Sa. 1050-1857|publisher=Mahārāshṭra Rājya Sāhitya Sãskr̥ti Maṇḍaḷa|year=1977|page=258|quote=विदर्भातील चंद्रनगर (हछीचे चांदा) येथील रहिवासी असलेल्या बोबडे ह्या कौशिकगोत्री देशस्थ ऋग्वेदी ब्राह्मण घराण्यात ते...}}{{cite book|title=Sãśodhana-śalākā|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SHAuAAAAMAAJ|page=6|author=Sureśa Mahādeva Ḍoḷake|publisher=Ameya Prakashan|year=1983}} The family later moved to Nagpur. His grandfather Shrinivas Ramachandra Bobde was also a lawyer.{{cite news|title=WHO IS SHARAD ARVIND BOBDE|url=https://wap.business-standard.com/about/who-is-sharad-arvind-bobde|publisher=Business Standard}} Bobde's father Arvind Shrinivas Bobde was the advocate-general of Maharashtra in 1980 and 1985. Bobde's elder brother late Vinod Arvind Bobde was a senior Supreme Court lawyer and a constitutional expert.{{cite web|url=https://www.livelaw.in/senior-advocate-vinod-bobde-passes-away/|title=Senior Advocate Vinod Bobde Passes away|first=LIVELAW NEWS|last=NETWORK|date=11 June 2016|website=www.livelaw.in|access-date=25 April 2019}}
= Education =
Bobde did his schooling at St. Francis De'Sales High School, Nagpur. He completed his graduation from the St. Francis De Sales College, Nagpur and studied law at the Dr. Ambedkar Law College, Nagpur University.{{cite web|title=Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde|url=http://supremecourtcaselaw.com/jus_sabobde.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020625012842/http://supremecourtcaselaw.com/jus_sabobde.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=25 June 2002|access-date=8 January 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://nalsa.gov.in/executive-chairman/hon-ble-mr-justice-sharad-arvind-bobde|title=Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde Profile|date=11 May 2018|publisher=National Legal Services Authority |access-date=25 April 2019}}
Career
He enrolled as an advocate on 13 September 1978, practiced at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court with appearances before the principal seat at Bombay and before the Supreme Court of India and became a Senior Advocate in 1998. Bobde was appointed an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on 29 March 2000,{{cite web|url=https://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/jshowpuisne.php?auth=amdldGlkPTM2NSZwYWdlbm89Mzc=|title= Sharad Arvind Bobde|website=www.bombayhighcourt.nic.in|access-date=2019-11-18}} and subsequently promoted to Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on 16 October 2012 before being elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on 12 April 2013.{{cite web|title=HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE SHARAD ARVIND BOBDE, B.A., LL.B.|url=http://mphc.in/?q=node/152|publisher=High Court of Madhya Pradesh|access-date=8 January 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Ganjapure|first1=Vaibhav|title=NU alumni justice Bobde to be SC judge soon|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/NU-alumni-justice-Bobde-to-be-SC-judge-soon/articleshow/19266970.cms|access-date=8 January 2016|publisher=The Times of India, gpur|date=29 March 2013}}
He was appointed the 47th Chief Justice of India on 18 November 2019, succeeding Ranjan Gogoi.{{cite web| url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/justice-bobde-takes-oath-as-next-cji/articleshow/72103117.cms| title=Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde takes oath as 47th CJI| work=Times of India| date=18 November 2019}} He became the only CJI to not recommend a single judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court of India, in his tenure of 1 year and 5 months.{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/supreme-court-collegium-meets-but-discusses-no-names/articleshow/81978948.cms|title=Supreme Court collegium meets but discusses no names | India News |website=The Times of India|date=9 April 2021 }}
He wrote 68 judgments as a judge of the Supreme Court. However, he sat on the bench for 547 cases. He has effectively written 8.5 judgments per year. The subject he has written the most judgments on in the Supreme Court is Criminal Law, with 29 judgments.{{cite web |last1=R |first1=Kruthika |last2=R |first2=Mihir |title=CJI Bobde Wrote 68 Judgments Over 8 Years |url=https://www.scobserver.in/the-desk/cji-bobde-wrote-68-judgments-over-8-years |website=SCObserver.in |publisher=Supreme Court Observer |access-date=21 April 2021}}
Notable judgements and opinions
=Ayodhya dispute=
{{Main|2019 Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya dispute}}
Justice Bobde was part of the five-judge constitutional bench which heard and delivered the judgment dated 9 November 2019 on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case. The bench unanimously ordered the construction of a Hindu Temple in the disputed site, while ruling that the Demolition of the Babri Masjid and the 1949 desecration of the Babri Masjid was in violation of law.{{cite news|title=Aadhaar, air pollution, Ayodhya — next CJI SA Bobde has been part of landmark cases|url=https://theprint.in/india/governance/judiciary/next-cji-sa-bobde-has-been-part-of-landmark-cases/312892/|date=29 October 2019}}
=Aadhaar=
A three judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, comprising Bobde, Jasti Chelameswar, and Chokkalingam Nagappan, ratified an earlier order of the Supreme Court and clarified that no Indian citizen without an Aadhaar card can be deprived of basic services and government subsidies.{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/aadhaar-not-mandatory-sc-reiterates/article6999924.ece |title=Don't insist on Aadhar, warns SC |work=The Hindu|date=16 March 2015|access-date=20 December 2016}}
=Anti-abortion=
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, comprising Bobde and L. Nageswara Rao in 2017, rejected a woman's plea seeking termination of her foetus, based on the medical board's report that the 26-week-old foetus had a chance of survival.{{cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/sc-rejects-pregnant-womans-plea-to-terminate-foetus-afflicted-with-down-syndrome-3307042.html|title=SC rejects pregnant woman's plea to terminate foetus afflicted with Down syndrome|website=Firstpost|date=28 February 2017 |access-date=25 April 2019}}
=Religious feelings=
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, comprising Bobde and L. Nageswara Rao in 2017, upheld the ban by the Karnataka Government of a book (Basava Vachana Deepthi) by Maate Mahadevi on the grounds that it outraged the religious feelings of the Veerashaiva community.{{cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/66627288/|title=Poojaya Sri Jagadguru Maate ... vs Government Of Karnataka on 20 September, 2017|website=indiankanoon.org|access-date=25 April 2019}}{{cite web | last=Desk | first=FPJ Web | title=Maate Mahadevi death anniversary: Why was her book 'Basava Vachana Deepthi' banned ? | website=Free Press Journal | date=2022-03-13 | url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/maate-mahadevi-death-anniversary-why-was-her-book-basava-vachana-deepthi-banned | access-date=2024-03-06}}
=Environment=
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, comprising Bobde, T. S. Thakur and Arjan Kumar Sikri in 2016, in relation to the extreme air pollution in the National Capital Region, suspended the sales of fire crackers in the region.{{Cite web |url=https://www.sci.gov.in/jonew/judis/44340.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=20 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420060409/https://www.sci.gov.in/jonew/judis/44340.pdf |archive-date=20 April 2019 |url-status=dead }}
=Marital rape=
While commenting on marital rape, Bobde remarked that when a man and a woman live as husband and wife, that act of sexual intercourse between them could not be called rape.{{Cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/however-brutal-the-husband-is-supreme-courts-observation-on-marital-rape-raises-eyebrows-3488783.html|title='However Brutal the Husband is...': Supreme Court's Observation on Marital Rape Raises Eyebrows|date=2 March 2021|website=www.news18.com}}
=Rape of a minor=
Bobde was hearing an appeal against anticipatory bail given to a person accused of raping a minor. During oral arguments Bobde asked the defendant "Will you marry her?".{{cite news|url=https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/will-you-marry-her-supreme-court-asks-man-charged-rape-minor-girl |title=Will you marry her? Supreme Court asks government servant charged with repeatedly raping minor girl |work=Bar And Bench|date=1 March 2021|access-date=1 March 2021}} Following this exchange, women's rights and progressive groups called Bobde to step down for asking the accused rapist to marry the victim to avoid punishment.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/04/indias-top-judge-tells-accused-rapist-to-marry-victim-to-avoid-jail | title=India's top judge tells accused rapist to marry victim to avoid jail| date=4 March 2021}}
=Appointment of High Court Judges=
A three-judge bench of CJI Bobde and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Surya Kant issued binding directions to streamline the appointment of high court judges, within specified timelines.{{Cite web|url=https://thewire.in/law/cji-sa-bobde-legacy-high-court-pendency|title=CJI S.A. Bobde's Legacy: Two Orders That Could Reduce Pendency in HCs|website=The Wire}}
References
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{{Chief Justices of India}}
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Category:20th-century Indian judges
Category:21st-century Indian judges
Category:Chief justices of the Madhya Pradesh High Court
Category:Chief justices of India
Category:Judges of the Bombay High Court
Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of India
Category:Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University alumni