‘Let Him go With Warning,’ Attorney General Tells Supreme Court in Contempt Case Against Prashant Bhushan

Prashant Bhushan had refused to apologise in his supplementary reply before the apex court. “I believe that the Supreme Court is the last bastion of hope for protection of fundamental rights,” he said.

New Delhi: Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan, who refused to apologise in his supplementary reply before the Supreme Court, should be let go “with a warning”, said Attorney General KK Venugopal during the suo motu contempt proceedings on Tuesday.

“Let him go with a warning to tell him ‘please don’t repeat this in future’. The court should warn Prashant Bhushan and take a compassionate view,” the Attorney General said.

However, the SC said, “A person should realise his mistake; we gave Bhushan time but he says he will not apologise.”

Prashant Bhushan has freedom of speech, but says he will not tender an apology for contempt. He said the  SC has collapsed, is it not objectionable, the top court bench asked AG Venugopal.

“The court can speak only through orders and even in his affidavit, Prashant Bhushan made disparaging remarks,” the bench said, to which the AG replied that Bhushan will express regret.

The Supreme Court has now given Bhushan 30 minutes to “think over” his stand of not expressing regret over his contemptuous tweets against judiciary.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan had on Monday refused to apologise as he submitted his supplementary reply before the apex court.

“I believe that the Supreme Court is the last bastion of hope for protection of fundamental rights,” Bhushan said.

“If I retract a statement before this court that I otherwise believe to be true or offer an insincere apology, that in my eyes would amount to contempt of my conscience and of an institution that I hold in highest esteem,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court bench hearing Bhushan’s 2009 contempt case requested Chief Justice SA Bobde to place the matter before an “appropriate bench”.  The top court has listed the next hearing for September 10.

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

Justice Arun Mishra, hearing the matter, said that the issue requires a lengthy hearing. “I am short of time. I am demitting office. This requires detailed hearing of four to five hours,” he said, placing the case before CJI for a transfer.

Bhushan’s counsel Rajeev Dhawan had argued in court that the reference to corruption by judges is a question of conflict between the right to free speech and suo motu contempt of court. It should be examined before a constitution bench, he said.

Last week, the Supreme Court had rejected his plea to defer the hearing on his sentence till his review petition against conviction for criminal contempt is filed and decided. The court gave him two days’ time to submit an “unconditional apology” and asked him to “reconsider” his statement.

Prashant Bhushan has also been held guilty for making derogatory comments in two separate tweets that allegedly accused the last four Chief Justices of a role in the “destruction of democracy” during undeclared “emergency” for the last six years.

He also alleged that the “present Chief Justice” – SA Bobde – rode a bike in Nagpur “while keeping the apex court in lockdown and denying citizens their right to access to justice”.