Supreme Court reserves verdict on sentence against Prashant Bhushan over his tweets
The Supreme Court on August 25 reserved the order in contempt case against activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
FollowNew Delhi: The apex court on August 25 reserved the order in contempt case against activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan for his tweets. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan was convicted of criminal contempt for his two tweets on the top court and Chief Justice of India SA Bobde.
The first tweet, reproduced in the court, said, “When historians in the future look back at the last six years to see how democracy has been destroyed in India even without a formal Emergency, they will particularly mark the role of the SC in this destruction, and more particularly the role of the last four CJIs.”
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The second tweet said, “The CJI rides a Rs 50-lakh motorcycle belonging to a BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] leader at Raj Bhavan, Nagpur, without wearing a mask or helmet, at a time when he keeps the SC on lockdown mode denying citizens their fundamental right to access justice!”
A three-judge bench headed by justice Arun Mishra said those who criticise courts should not attribute motives to judges.
He added that the lawyers and judges are part of the same institution and should work together to ensure dignity of the institution is not compromised.
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Senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan appearing for Bhushan said that the court should not punish the advocate. He added that the court should not make Bhushan a martyr by punishing him for contempt. He also said that the court should close the case after issuing a general direction that Bar should be restrained while criticising the court.
Earlier, Attorney General KK Venugopal had also requested the court to close the case against Bhushan after reprimanding him.
