The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to advocate Prashant Bhushan and Attorney General KK Venugopal on the suo motu criminal contempt proceedings it has initiated against the lawyer for his alleged derogatory tweets against the judiciary, PTI reported.

Contempt of Court against Prashant Bhushan The Supreme Court, upon the complaint filed by the Mahek Maheshwari, took Suo motu cognizance of the tweets posted by activist and advocate Prashant Bhushan on his twitter handle and held him guilty of contempt of court for lowering the authority of the court, through his tweets. Facts of the case.

SC Starts Contempt Proceedings Against Prashant Bhushan, Twitter for Unspecified Tweets. A contempt case against Bhushan, pending since 2009, has also been listed to be heard on July 24. On 29 June 2020, advocate Prashant Bhushan published a tweet about the Chief Justice of India, accompanied by a picture of CJI Bobde on a motorcycle.

It observed that the tweets prima facie “brought administration of justice into disrepute 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 the public at large”, Live Law reported. “We take suo motu cognizance of the aforesaid tweet also apart from the tweet quoted above [in the order] and suo motu register the proceedings,” the top court added.

The top court, which had also initiated proceedings against social media company Twitter India, directed that Twitter Inc of California be made a party in the case. Senior lawyer Sajan Poovayya, who appeared for Twitter India, said they have been impleaded incorrectly. He also stated that the tweet in question could be disabled after a court order.

A three-judge bench of Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari suggested that Twitter should itself disable Bhushan’s alleged contemptuous tweets, according to News18. “Why can’t you do it on your own?” the court asked Poovayya. “Even after we have initiated the contempt proceedings, do you want to wait for a formal order? We think we won’t pass any order and will leave it your wisdom.”

The lawyer said he will convey the court’s order to his client. “Now that the court has taken suo motu cognisance, I get what my lordships are saying,” Poovayya added. “I will convey the message.”

The top court asked Venugopal to assist in the matter and will hear the matter next on August 5.

During the hearing, Mishra pointed out the tweets posted by Bhushan on June 27 and 29. The first tweet commented about undeclared emergency and the role of Supreme Court and last four chief justices of India. The second tweet was about Chief Justice SA Bobde trying a Harley Davidson superbike in his hometown Nagpur.

The Supreme Court had pulled up Bhushan in 2013 too, when he had made “disturbing remarks” against the judges hearing the coal scam. Bhushan had wondered why the court did not take action against Goolam E Vahanvati, the attorney general in the UPA government, for allegedly lying in court. He later apologised to the court.

More recently, in March 2019, Bhushan turned down the Supreme Court’s offer to “unconditionally apologise” to the court for seeking that Justice Arun Mishra recuse himself from hearing a contempt plea against him. In February 2019, Attorney General KK Venugopal had filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Bhushan for allegedly scandalising the court with his tweets on the turmoil in the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In recent months, Bhushan took up the cause of migrant workers in the Supreme Court, arguing that the government’s mishandling of the Covid-19 lockdown had created a humanitarian crisis. The judges had rebuked him for his criticism of the court. In the past, Bhushan has made statements about the treatment of activists such as Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj, who are imprisoned in the Elgar Parishad case.

The Supreme Court on Monday fined senior advocate Prashant Bhushan Re 1 in the contempt case for his tweets on the judiciary, reported Live Law. On August 25, the court had reserved its ruling after numerous arguments as Bhushan refused to apologise.

The bench of Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari pronounced the judgement. The bench said that the senior lawyer will be imprisoned for three months and will be debarred from practicing for three years if he defaults on the payment of the penalty. Bhushan was instructed to pay the fine by September 15.

Mishra cited the top court’s precedents to highlight that the in-house procedure should be approached for corruption allegations against judges. “Judges are not supposed to go to the press, their comments outside the court should not have been relied on,” Mishra said, according to Bar and Bench.

Mishra added that multiple opportunities were given to Bhushan to express regret over his remarks. “He [Bhushan] not only gave wide publicity to the second statement but also gave various interviews to press,” the top court bench said, according to NDTV. “We have considered the sane advice given by the Attorney General, and have concluded that the conduct of present contemnor also needs to be taken into consideration.”

The top court said that Bhushan’s statement, in which he said that offering an apology for his constructive criticism of the judiciary would amount to the “contempt of his conscience”, was made to “influence independent judicial function”.The court noted that freedom of speech was important but rights of others must also be respected.

Bhushan, meanwhile, said that he will announce his decision to either pay the fine or face other options during a press conference at 4 pm. He also tweeted pictures of himself holding a Re 1 coin. “My lawyer and senior colleague Rajiv Dhavan contributed 1 Re immediately after the contempt judgement today which I gratefully accepted,” he wrote.

The senior lawyer was held guilty in contempt of court on August 14. The case pertains to two tweets posted by Bhushan on June 27 and June 29. In one tweet, he made a remark about an undeclared emergency and the role of the Supreme Court and last four chief justices of India. The second tweet was about Chief Justice SA Bobde trying a Harley Davidson superbike in his hometown Nagpur during the coronavirus outbreak.

In the last hearing on August 25, the top court had said it was “painful” to read Bhushan’s statements and justifications with regard to the case. “This is not the way a senior lawyer like Bhushan over 30 years of experience should behave,” Justice Arun Mishra had said.

During proceedings in the case on August 20, the top court had dismissed Bhushan’s request to adjourn the hearing on the quantum of punishment in the case and transfer it to another bench. It had instead given the senior lawyer two to three days to reconsider his remarks about the court and the CJI.

On August 19, Bhushan had moved the Supreme Court seeking to defer the next day’s proceedings to announce his punishment till a review petition was filed and considered.

Prashant Bhushan Twitter On Arnab Goswami

In his defence, Bhushan told the Supreme Court on August 24 that his tweets were a constructive criticism of the judiciary and that retracting his statement or offering an insincere apology would amount to “contempt of my conscience”.

On August 25, the Supreme Court also referred a 2009 contempt case against Bhushan to an “appropriate bench” that will take up the matter on September 10. The case is related to Bhushan’s interview to Tehelka magazine 11 years ago in which he made allegations of corruption in the Supreme Court and said half of the previous 16 chief justices were corrupt. The contempt of court case was filed by advocate Harish Salve.

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