Prashant Bhushan had refused to retract his comments or apologize.
New Delhi:
Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan, found guilty of contempt for his tweets criticizing the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and the Supreme Court, has been fined Re 1 by the high court. If you don’t pay the fine by September 15, you can go to jail for three months or be barred from practicing for three years.
“Freedom of expression cannot be restricted,” the Supreme Court said in sentencing, referring to “sound advice” from Attorney General KK Venugopal to the court and to Prashant Bhushan.
The court also noted: “We gave (Prashant Bhushan) several opportunities to express regret.”
Prashant Bhushan had refused to retract his comments or apologize, saying that he considered it the fulfillment of his “highest duty” and to apologize would be a disregard of his conscience and the court. Open criticism was necessary to “safeguard democracy and its values,” he had said, adding that he would happily accept the punishment.
The Supreme Court had requested an unconditional apology, holding that freedom of expression is not absolute. “She can do hundreds of good things, but that doesn’t give her a license to commit ten crimes,” the court had said.
At the last hearing, Attorney General KK Venugopal had suggested that Mr. Bhushan be released with a warning. “Bhushan’s tweets seek to improve the administration of justice … Let democracy continue in this case when it has exercised its freedom of expression … It will be greatly appreciated if the court leaves it that way,” he had said.
Mr. Bhushan’s lawyer, Rajeev Dhavan, had argued that the higher court order giving him time for an unconditional apology was “an exercise in coercion”. Mr. Bhushan should be forgiven with a message that he said, arguing: “One cannot be silenced forever … A message that he (Prashan Bhushan) should be somewhat restricted in the future should suffice.”
In one of the tweets, Prashant Bhushan had said that four former chief judges of India played a role in destroying democracy in India in the past six years. Another tweet commenting on a photo of Chief Justice Bobde on a Harley Davidson last month, had noted that he was without a helmet and mask while keeping the court locked up and denying citizens their right to justice.
Bhushan has already expressed regret in another contempt case related to his comment that half of India’s 16 top judges were corrupt, in an interview with Tehelka magazine in 2009. The word corruption, he told the court, was used in “broad sense that means lack of decorum” and not financial corruption. The Supreme Court says it wants to explore whether corruption charges can be brought against sitting and retired judges and the procedure for dealing with them.
.
