New Delhi, Aug 14, 2020: A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on August 14 found senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt for his two tweets on Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and the apex court.
Justices Arun Mishra, B R Gavai and Krishna Murari delivered the verdict on Bhushan’s tweets. The sentencing is on August 20.
Bhushan said he was giving his opinion about the functioning of the court in exercise of his freedom of speech. Hi tweets did not amount to “obstruction of justice,” necessitating the contempt proceedings.
However, Bhushan in an affidavit on August 3 had said he regretted only a “part of” what he tweeted and asserted that criticism of the top judge “does not scandalize” the court or lower its authority.
“To bona fide critique the actions of a Chief Justice or a succession of Chief Justices cannot and does not scandalize the court, nor does it lower the authority of the court,” Bhushan’s affidavit said.
“What I have tweeted is thus my bonafide impression about the manner and functioning of the Supreme Court in the past years and especially about the role of the last four Chief Justices have played vis a vis their role in being a check and balance on the powers of the executive, their role in ensuring that the supreme court functions in a transparent and accountable manner and was constrained to say that they, contributed to undermining democracy,” the affidavit said.
Source: ndtv.com