Prashant Bhushan Guilty of Contempt For His Tweets, Rules Supreme Court; Sentencing on August 20

The three-judge Supreme Court bench rejected Bhushan's argument that he was exercising his freedom of speech and gave his opinion on the public forum.

New Delhi: Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has on Friday been held guilty of contempt in a case against two of his tweets on the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and his predecessors. The Supreme Court will announce the quantum of punishment on August 20.

A three-judge bench of Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari hearing the case rejected Bhushan’s argument that he was exercising his freedom of speech and gave his opinion on the public forum.

His opinion, “however outspoken, disagreeable or unpalatable to some”, does not amount to “obstruction of justice”, Bhushan had said, leading to the contempt proceedings.

“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 the public at large,” the top court said in its order.

In his affidavit to the top court on August 3, the senior lawyer had explained that he regretted “a part of” his tweet but the criticism of CJIs “cannot and does not scandalise the court, nor does it lower the authority of the court”.

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

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 a bike in Nagpur “while keeping the apex court in lockdown and denying citizens their right to access to justice”.

The apex court had previously issued a notice to Bhushan, along with Tejpal, in November 2009 for allegedly casting aspersions on some sitting and former top court judges in an interview to news magazine Tehelka. Tejpal was the editor of the magazine. The matter was listed earlier this month after the last hearing in May 2012.