Prashant Bhushan held guilty of contempt by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on August 14 has held lawyer Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt for his two derogatory tweets against the judiciary and the current Chief Justice S.A. Bobde. A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said that it would hear on August 20 the arguments on quantum of sentence to be awarded to Bhushan in the matter.

The order was passed by a bench of Justices Arun Mishra, B.R. Gavai, and Krishna Murari. The Supreme Court is yet to decide on the quantum of punishment, and the hearing on the sentence is scheduled on August 20.

On July 22, the Supreme Court had issued notice to Bhushan on the alleged contemptuous remarks on Twitter. The Court also asked the Attorney General to assist it on the matter and had asked Bhushan and Twitter to file a reply by August 5.

"We are, prima facie, of the view that the aforesaid statements on Twitter have brought the administration of justice in disrepute and are capable of undermining the dignity and authority of the Institution of Supreme Court in general and the office of the Chief Justice of India in particular, in the eyes of public at large," said the Court in its order.

The Supreme Court initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Bhushan for allegedly making derogatory comments against the Top Court on June 27 in a tweet that alleged that the last four Chief Justices had played a role in the "destruction of democracy" during undeclared "emergency" for the last six years. Another tweet on June 29 alleged that the "present Chief Justice" rode bike in Nagpur "while keeping the Supreme Court in lockdown and denying citizens their right to access to justice".

The Apex Court rejected the contention of senior advocate Dushayant Dave, who was representing Bhushan, that the separate plea had raised objection against the manner in which the contempt proceedings were started without the opinion of Attorney General K K Venugopal and it be sent to another bench.

According to Bhushan, the Supreme Court's Secretary General allegedly acted unconstitutionally and illegally in accepting a defective contempt petition filed against him, which was initially placed on the administrative side and later on the judicial side.

Referring to a judgement, the Supreme Court had said that it has "meticulously" followed the law in entertaining the contempt plea and it did not agree to the submission that it be sent to another bench for hearing.

According to Dushyant Dave who argued for Bhushan in the contempt case, the two tweets were not against the institution. "They are against the judges in their personal capacity regarding their conduct. They are not malicious and do not obstruct administration of justice". He went on to add that Bhushan had contributed immensely to the development of jurisprudence and there are at least 50 judgments to his credit. He also said that the Court has appreciated his contributions in cases like 2G scam, coal block allocation and in mining matters. Dave said that this was not the case where contempt proceedings would have been initiated.

In a 142-page reply affidavit, Bhushan stood by his two tweets and had said the expression of opinion, "however outspoken, disagreeable or unpalatable to some", cannot constitute contempt of court. Bhushan, in the affidavit, had referred to several Supreme Court judgements, speeches of former and serving judges on contempt of court and the "stifling of dissent" in a democracy and his views on judicial actions in some cases.

Preventing citizens from demanding accountability and reforms and advocating for the same by generating public opinion is not a reasonable restriction, the affidavit had said, adding that the Article 129 cannot be pressed into service to stifle bonafide criticism. While referring to the tweets by Bhushan, the Supreme Court had said these statements are prima facie capable of undermining the dignity and authority of the institution of the Supreme Court in general and the office of Chief Justice of India in particular, in the eyes of the public at large.