Prashant Bhushan to file Review Petition against August 14 judgment that held him guilty of contempt of Court

Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan has informed the Supreme Court that his client Prashant Bhushan will file a review petition against the apex court's August 14 verdict to hold the activist-lawyer guilty of contempt of court for his tweet criticising the judiciary.

In June-end, Bhushan had tweeted to express his opinion that the action or inaction of the last four Chief Justices of India had contributed to the destruction of democracy in the country, without even a formal Emergency in the country.

In a 108-page judgment, a bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari said on August 14: “The impression which the tweet tends to give to an ordinary citizen is that when the historians in future look back, the impression they will get is that in the last six years the democracy has been destroyed in India without even a formal Emergency and that the Supreme Court had a particular role in the said destruction and the last four CJIs had more particular role in the said destruction.”

OnAugust 17, Dhavan, appearing for lawyer Bhushan in a 2009 contempt case, contended before a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra that “it is not contempt per se, and we intend to file plea for a review of the August 14 judgment for this very reason”.

On August 14, the Apex Court had also said that the “attack on the judiciary has to be dealt with a requisite degree of firmness”, as it “may affect the national honour and prestige in the comity of nations”.

“Fearless and impartial courts of justice are the bulwarks of a healthy democracy and the confidence in them cannot be permitted to be impaired by malicious attacks upon them.”