The Supreme Courtroom was knowledgeable on Friday that President Droupadi Murmu has permitted the conferment of the President’s Medal for Gallantry on former police officer Vivek Kumar Chouhan, who shot lifeless two dacoits throughout an anti-dacoity operation in Madhya Pradesh in 2003.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was listening to a case associated to contempt proceedings initiated by Chouhan within the Excessive Courtroom in opposition to Union Residence Secretary Govind Mohan for non-compliance with a Excessive Courtroom course to confer the gallantry award on him.
After the Courtroom earlier expressed displeasure over the delay in complying with the Excessive Courtroom order, Solicitor Normal Tushar Mehta as we speak knowledgeable the Courtroom that the President had taken a choice on the matter.
“We’re grateful in your lordships’ indulgence and now the choice is taken. The President has handed the order,” Mehta stated.
He learn out the related portion of the communication, stating that the proposal had been examined in compliance with the Excessive Courtroom’s order and as per the relevant pointers.
He stated the President had permitted the Medal for Gallantry to Sri Vivek Kumar Chauhan, SI for the motion dated June 24, 2003. The award can be notified within the Gazette of India by the President’s Secretary shortly, he added.
Mehta additionally argued that the Excessive Courtroom’s order shouldn’t be handled as a precedent, saying that such awards are finally determined by the President.
The Courtroom famous that it was solely coping with the contempt proceedings, and this statement was not required within the order.
Senior Advocate Mrigendra Singh, showing for Chouhan, stated that Chouhan would withdraw the contempt petition within the Excessive Courtroom in gentle of this growth.
Within the order, the Courtroom recorded that Mehta had positioned earlier than it a communication dated August 20, 2026, issued by the Ministry of Residence Affairs, whereby approval had been granted to confer the Medal of Gallantry on Chouhan, and the award could be notified within the Gazette of India in the end.
“In that view of the matter the current petition doesn’t require any additional consideration,” the Courtroom opined.
The Courtroom additionally recorded that Singh’s assertion that Chouhan would withdraw the contempt proceedings pending earlier than the Excessive Courtroom.
Background
The dispute arose from Chouhan’s long-pending declare for the President’s Gallantry Medal. He was serving as SHO of Ghatigaon police station in Gwalior district in 2003 when he led an operation in opposition to dacoits. Two dacoits have been killed and Chouhan sustained accidents.
The Madhya Pradesh Excessive Courtroom had directed in December 2024 that the gallantry award be conferred on Chouhan inside one month. The order was subsequently upheld by a Division Bench.
The Centre had later submitted that the President had permitted a Gallantry Medal for Chouhan. The Excessive Courtroom rejected this as insufficient, holding that the Gallantry Medal and President’s Gallantry Medal have been distinct honours and that the latter was a better distinction. The Excessive Courtroom discovered that the Union had “clearly over reached the order”, amounting to prima facie willful disobedience.
The Centre challenged the Excessive Courtroom order earlier than the Supreme Courtroom.
Case no. – MA 2056/2026 in SLP(C) No. 10821/2026, Diary No. 40866/2026
Case Title – Govind Mohan v. Vivek Singh Chouhan
