The Supreme Court will examine the larger issues involved in contempt cases regarding procedures and
situations leading to allegations of judicial corruption, held on Monday while hearing the 2009 case
of contempt against Prashant Bhushan, who allegedly spoke in an interview with Tehelka magazine about
judicial “corruption.”
The bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra bench looked for answers to two questions. The first was
“What should be the process in case you have any grievance against any judge? In what circumstances can one make such allegations? “The second was” If any matter is subjugation, to what degree is it possible to dispute the matter by media or another mode?
“We want to hear (the case) because if the question is left, it will not be good for later on,” observed the bench also comprising Justices Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai and Krishna Murari.
Senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan, who appeared for Bhushan, submitted that he accepted that the top court’s
concerns were valid and urged the bench to allow the matter to be heard by a larger bench, which Justice
Mishra accepted with. The case will be heard next, on August 24.
Dhavan submitted that the 14 August judgment of the apex court convicting Bhushan of contempt suffered from many imbalances. Bhushan shall seek a review of the judgment, as it stated that allegations against judges per se do not constitute contempt and the allegations were made against former judges and not sitting judges, Dhavan said.
The Supreme Court on Friday held Bhushan guilty of contempt of court for his two tweets criticizing the judiciary. The hearing on the quantum of punishment will be held on 20 August. The first tweet pertained to a picture of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde seen sitting on a high-end motorcycle. In the second tweet, Bhushan gave an opinion on the role of the last four chief justices of India and had allegedly opined that half of 16 former chief justices were corrupt.
