The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on punishment to Prashant Bhushan who was on August 14 convicted of contempt of court for scandalising the Judiciary by his tweets against CJI SA Bobde and four former CJIs.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing Bhushan, urged the Supreme Court not to make him a martyr.
“A general message, not even a reprimand….My humble and most respectful submission is don’t make Prashant Bhushan a martyr,” Dhavan — who is representing Bhushan, told a Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra.
Dhavan’s reply came after Justice Mishra asked, “If we decide to punish him, what should be the punishment?
Dhavan said, “If the top court wants to bar Bhushan from practise, it will have to hear him first.
SC larger Bench to decide conflict of free speech, contempt arising out of Prashant Bhushan case
“If you want to impose a jail term, my advice would be don’t make Prashant Bhushan a martyr. Like what happened after Babri was demolished and Kalyan Singh was convicted of contempt.”
Attorney General KK Venugopal said, “My suggestion would be to give a quietus to this matter without getting into that exercise.”
In the pre-lunch session, he had suggested a warning to Bhushan would suffice.
Dhavan said, “Although AG says a reprimand is in order, I’ll say a general statement is enough and there is no need to reprimand him.”
Prashant Bhushan had on Monday refused to apologise for his contemptuous tweets scandalising the judiciary and asked the Supreme Court to recall its August 14 order convicting him of contempt of court.
In a fresh statement filed in top court, a defiant Bhushan had said an insincere apology would amount to “contempt of my conscience and of an institution that I hold in highest esteem”.
An apology for expression of beliefs, conditional or unconditional, would be insincere, Bhushan had said in a two-page statement filed in the court.
