Attorney Prashant Bhushan approached the Supreme Court on Saturday and prayed that additional legal recourse would be provided in those cases where the Supreme Court convicted people in original criminal contempt cases.
The original contempt cases are those that are heard directly by the Supreme Court in the first instance. In such cases, if a person is found guilty, they will have no other recourse, as the Supreme Court is the highest court in the country.
Bhushan has prayed that in such a case the convicted person will have the right to an appeal within the court, that is, a larger court of the Supreme Court, different from the court that convicted the person in question, should hear an appeal against said sentence. .
Also read: Judges are now easy targets with the advent of social media – Justice Ramana
“The right to appeal against conviction in original criminal cases is a substantive right under article 21 and is derived from the principles of natural justice. The absence of such a right violates (the right to life under) Article 21, ”the statement said.
Furthermore, contempt proceedings are those in which the injured party is the Supreme Court itself and acts as a prosecutor, witness, and judge, increasing the fear of inherent bias. Therefore, there is a need for an intra-judicial appeal, the petition says.
If an in-court appeal cannot be allowed, then alternatively, petitions for review filed against the Supreme Court’s sentencing orders in original criminal contempt cases would be heard in open court by a different court, Bhushan prayed.
Read also: ‘Asking questions from the constitutional right of the government’ – Chirag Paswan demands the government of the president in Maharashtra
The Supreme Court had recently found Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt for his tweets in which he criticized the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde. On August 31, the court imposed a symbolic fine of 1 rupees as punishment for it.
Another contempt case, initiated by the high court in 2009 for its comments that previous Indian chief judges were corrupt, is also pending before the high court.
.
