By Weindrila Sen-
Supreme Court today stated that Advocate Prashant Bhushan is guilty of contempt of court for his tweets on Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and his comment on the judiciary. The punishment is yet to be decided and will be heard next on 20.08.2020.
The Supreme Court of India registered suo motu contempt case against Advocate Prashant Bhushan after he had criticized the present Chief Justice of India and the judiciary over two tweets made on 27.06.2020 and 29.06.2020. In his 29.06.2020 tweet Advocate, Bhushan passed comment on present Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde over his picture on a high-end motorbike and in another tweet on 27.06.2020 he expressed his thoughts on the active role of previous four Chief Justices of India and the Supreme Court is destroying the democracy of India.
Advocate Bhushan stated on 27.06.2020-
“When historians in the future look back at the last 6 years to see how democracy has been destroyed in India even without a formal Emergency, they will particularly mark the role of the Supreme Court in this destruction, & more particularly the role of the last 4 CJIs.”
Another tweet on 29.06.2020 says-
“CJI rides a 50 Lakh motorcycle belonging to a BJP leader at Raj Bhavan Nagpur, without a mask or helmet, at a time when he keeps the SC in Lockdown mode denying citizens their fundamental right to access Justice!”
Advocate Bhushan replied with a 142-page affidavit, where he said that he had expressed his bona fide opinion regarding his comment on the judiciary and his comment on the Chief Justice was to highlight the inappropriateness of the picture to the current situation. Advocate Bhushan also moved to the Supreme Court challenging the list of the current contempt petition without the prior consent of the Attorney General.