The apex court on has held senior public interest lawyer Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court for his tweets on the SC and the Chief Justice, SA Bobde on Friday. The 3-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said that Bhushan had committed ‘serious contempt’ in the two tweets as they brought ‘disrepute to the administration of justice’.
The SC had issued notice to Bhushan in the suo-motu contempt case on 22nd July over his tweets and he replied that his expression of opinion doesn’t constitute as contempt of court even if ‘disagreeable.’ He referred to the right to freedom of expression under Article 14 (1) (A) for the same. On 5th August Bhushan defended himself in the SC saying that whatever he posted about the judges was about their conduct in their personal capacity and therefore did not obstruct the administration of justice. But on 3rd August in an affidavit, he said that he regretted ‘part’ of what he said.
Now the SC wants to examine whether calling a corrupt judge corrupt would per se amount to Contempt of Court, even if you have evidence to prove it? This at a time when truth has been made a defence to a charge of Contempt! pic.twitter.com/9CKgPSolqt
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) August 11, 2020
The court had observed that the lawyer’s tweets “brought disrepute to the administration of justice and are capable of undermining the dignity and authority of the Supreme Court in general and the office of the Chief Justice of India in particular, in the eyes of general public.”
The hearing for delivering the quantum of punishment will be on 20th August.
