Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Justice Suryakant and others during the launch of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s two books, ‘The Bench, the Bar and the Bizarre Unknown: The Curious and the Extraordinary in Law’ and ‘The Lawful and the Terrible: Quirky Tales from the World of Law’. | Photo credit: PTI
Launching two books authored by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on humor in the courtroom, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Sunday (May 10, 2026) said the top lawyer must now turn his sights on the Indian judicial system for his third book.
The CJI said that “we have no shortage of comic stories from our own region. In fact, I’m sure we have enough material in Delhi itself to fill a library!”
The Chief Justice said he would be more than happy to contribute to such an effort as he would be less uptight after retirement.
Home Minister Amit Shah was speaking at the launch of the books titled ‘The Bench, the Bar and the Bizarre’ and ‘The Lawful and the Monstrous’, which was attended by Supreme Court and Supreme Court judges, lawyers, senior advocates and others.
The CJI said he leafed through the books and wondered how Mr. Mehta could save time for writing in his busy schedule.
“So I tried to solve this mystery! I have two running theories. Either Tushar Bhai successfully petitioned the Almighty for the 25th hour of the day and kept that command strictly to himself, or he found that the best time to write comedies is when Court #1 is taking too long to read the case file during the hearing. My money’s on the latter!” said the Chief Justice.
The CJI said the books are full of hilarious anecdotes and incidents Mr Mehta collected after raiding law libraries, digging through old case files and digging up obscure court records that “read more like sitcom scripts than grim documents”.
The CJI promised the audience that the volumes had everything from dress code disasters to AI hallucinations in judgments and pleas to drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
“It features confused witnesses, judges with a flair for drama and lawyers caught in the crossfire of their own hysterical missteps… The courtroom is where theater meets law and everyone has a starring role,” the CJI said.
Chief Justice Kant lightly remarked that Mr. Mehta’s deliberate omission of the Indian bench in his book was probably not just an editorial discretion but actually his “enhanced survival instinct”.
“You see, Tushar Bhai knows that if he were to write about our idiosyncrasies, his next ‘mention’ would be outright rejected in Court No. 1 (the courtroom of the Chief Justice of India) without even a review!” Chief Justice Kant said so.
Published – 10 May 2026 22:02 IST
