Advocate Prashant Bhushan held guilty of contempt for tweets against CJI

The Supreme Court on Friday pronounced advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court. Earlier, the top court had initiated the suo motu contempt of court proceedings against Prashant Bhushan for his 'contemptuous' tweets.

Meanwhile, a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra of the Supreme Court found civil rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan guilty of the contempt of court.

The bench has fixed the sentencing hearing on August 20. The court took suo motu contempt action against the noted civil rights lawyer for his tweet on a photograph of Chief Justice Sharad A. Bobde and another about the SC’s functioning in the past six years.

The court said that the two tweets had undermined the authority of the court and dignity of the CJI’s office. The Contempt of Court Act of 1971 comes with imprisonment that may extend to 6 months or a fine of Rs 2000 or both.

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Meanwhile, Prashant Bhushan has maintained that the tweets amounted to “criticism” not contempt. The court had reserved its judgment on August 5 after hearing extensive arguments made by senior advocate Dushyant Dave.

-PTC News