Amitava Roy

Amitava Roy (born 1 March 1953)^{[citation needed]} is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India and former Chief Justice of the Odisha High Court^[1] and Rajasthan High Court. He was also a puisne judge of the Gauhati High Court.^[2][3][4]

For the Indian cricketer, see Amitava Roy (cricketer).

Hon'ble Justice (Retd.) Amitava Roy
Judge of the Supreme Court of India
In office 27 February 2015 – 1 March 2018
Nominated by	H. L. Dattu
Appointed by	Pranab Mukherjee
27th Chief Justice of Odisha High Court
In office 6 August 2014 – 27 February 2015
Nominated by	R. M. Lodha
Appointed by	Pranab Mukherjee
Preceded by	Adarsh Kumar Goel
Succeeded by	Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela
31st Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court
In office 2 January 2013 – 5 August 2014
Nominated by	Altamas Kabir
Appointed by	Pranab Mukherjee
Preceded by	Arun Kumar Mishra
Succeeded by	Sunil Ambwani
Judge of Gauhati High Court
In office 4 February 2002 – 1 January 2013
Nominated by	Sam Piroj Bharucha
Appointed by	K. R. Narayanan
Personal details
Born	Amitava Roy (1953-03-01) 1 March 1953 (age 72) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Relations	Dipankar Datta (brother-in-law)
Alma mater	Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh

Elevation

He was elevated as the Judge of the High Court on 4 February 2002. He was administered the oath of office of the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court on 2 January 2013 by Margaret Alva The Governor of Rajasthan. He took oath as Supreme Court Judge, in February 2015.^{[citation needed]}

Notable Judgements

National Anthem

A judgement of a two judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, which included Roy and Dipak Misra, made it compulsory for cinema halls across India to play the National Anthem of India before the screening of any film, and mandated that the audience stand while the National Anthem was played. The verdict has been widely criticized for being an assault on civil liberties and individual rights in India.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][a]} It was pointed out that the ruling contravened an earlier judgement of the Indian Supreme Court in which children in India claiming religious allegiance to Jehovah's Witnesses were permitted to refrain from singing the National Anthem during school assemblies in accordance with their religious rights.^{[8][10][14][17]}

Following this order, Indian police has started arresting moviegoers who fail to stand when the National Anthem is played in cinema halls in India.^{[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]} It has been clarified that foreigners in India are not exempt from the new law.^[24]

Notes

1. A report in The New York Times stated that:

   [The] ruling inspired sardonic commentary on social media. One person on Twitter recommended that pirated internet torrents should now come with a “national anthem file attached,” and another wrote that food vendors in cinemas should exclaim “Bharat Mata ki jai,” or “Hail Mother India,” when serving popcorn.^[16]