Supreme Court Gives Prashant Bhushan Time To Reconsider His Statement
Attorney General for India KK Venugopal requests the Supreme Court to not punish Prashant Bhushan.
The sentence hearing in the Advocate Prashant Bhushan contempt case on Thursday ended with the Supreme Court giving him time till Aug. 24 to file an “unconditional apology, if he so desires”. If Bhushan decides to do so, the matter will be listed for Aug. 25, the apex court said in its order.
Bhushan, earlier during the hearing, declined to apologise for his tweets made in June, for which the top court found him guilty of contempt of court last week.
’’I don’t ask for mercy. I don’t appeal to magnanimity,” Bhushan read from a written statement during the hearing. “I’m here, therefore, to cheerfully submit to any penalty that can lawfully be inflicted upon me for what the Court has determined to be an offence, and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen.”
The Supreme Court was hearing arguments on sentencing on Thursday. The maximum sentence for a contempt of court is a six-month imprisonment or a Rs 2,000 fine or both.
Bhushan told the bench that he was shocked at the finding that he was guilty of “malicious, scurrilous, calculated attack” on the institution of administration of justice. In his defence, Bhushan once against repeated his stance that the two tweets were a representation of his bona fide belief.
My tweets were nothing but a small attempt to discharge what I considered to be my highest duty at this juncture in the history of our republic. I did not tweet in a fit of absent-mindedness. It would be insincere and contemptuous on my part to offer an apology for the tweets that expressed what was and continues to be my bona fide belief.Prashant Bhushan tells Supreme Court
The Attorney General for India, Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, requested the bench to not punish Bhushan. He said he has a list of five judges of the apex court saying that the democracy has failed in the Supreme Court. There are extracts from statements of retired judges pointing out corruption in higher judiciary, he said.
“If five judges of this court have held that democracy has failed...”, Venugopal said, but was interrupted by Justice Arun Mishra, who said: “ We aren’t hearing on merits, Mr. Attorney.”
Earlier during the hearing, the bench declined to adjourn the arguments on sentencing on a request by Bhushan’s counsel that they intend to file a review petition against the August 14 order. The bench, however, assured Bhushan’s side that until the review petition is decided upon, any punishment they impose will not be implemented.
Bhushan’s conviction has led some members of the legal fraternity, including former top court judges, to come out in his support.
A statement backing Bhushan, first signed by over 40 lawyers, has now reportedly garnered over 2,000 endorsements. BloombergQuint has not been able to independently verify the claim of over 1,000 endorsements, but confirmed the contents with 10 of the first 40 signatories.
Former Chief Justice Of India Justice RM Lodha reportedly questioned the procedure adopted in the hearing, while Justice (Retd.) Kurian Joseph suggested that the case must be heard by a Constitution bench. Justice (Retd.) Madan Lokur wrote an article supporting Bhushan.