New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan for unspecified tweets by him which it deemed derogatory to the judiciary.

The apex court has also initiated contempt proceedings against Twitter India, as Twitter was the social media platform on which Bhushan had posted his allegedly derogatory comments.

The matter is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday by a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra.

Bhushan has long been raising issues pertaining to judiciary and had recently been vocal of the way in which the top court had handled matters related to migrant workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also made statements relating to the treatment meted out to jailed activists like Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj who are accused in Bhima-Koregaon case.

Over the past decade, Bhushan has been instrumental in raising several issues touching upon corruption in high places – from the 2G scam to Rafale, the medical college scam and the Birla-Sahara diaries.

As of now, it is not clear which of Bhushan’s tweets have been construed as “contemptuous” by the apex court for the purpose of initiating proceedings.

Twitter has removed a tweet by left wing activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, where he had claimed that masks are not effective in preventing the spread of Novel Coronavirus. On 10 th April, Bhushan had posted a tweet with a link to a hypothesis published on Sciencedirect on the use of facemasks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contempt of Court against Prashant Bhushan The Supreme Court, upon the complaint filed by the Mahek Maheshwari, took Suo motu cognizance of the tweets posted by activist and advocate Prashant Bhushan on his twitter handle and held him guilty of contempt of court for lowering the authority of the court, through his tweets. Facts of the case.

Bar and Benchspeculated that Bhushan’s tweet criticising the Supreme Court role of the last four chief justices – Justices S.A. Bobde, Ranjan Gogoi, Dipak Misra and J.S. Khehar – for having played a role in the destruction of democracy “without a formal Emergency”:

When historians in 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

— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) June 27, 2020

Livelaw reported that it is likely the tweet which has triggered the Supreme Court’s notice was one where he criticised Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde for riding a motorcycle without a helmet or mask “when he keeps the SC in Lockdown mode denying citizens their fundamental right to access Justice!”

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! pic.twitter.com/PwKOS22iMz

— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) June 29, 2020

However, most legal observers say these tweets, and other statements by Bhushan that have been critical of the judiciary, do not amount to contempt of court as the term is formally understood.

Who Is Prashant Bhushan

Legal scholar Gautam Bhatia tweeted:

Seen the so-called “petition” on the basis of which the SC has allegedly initiated contempt proceedings against Prashant Bhushan. There is no point in dignifying it with a substantive response. The top court is embarrassing itself, and there is nothing more to say.

— Gautam Bhatia (@gautambhatia88) July 21, 2020

If indeed the Justice Arun Mishra-led bench intends to prosecute Bhushan for contempt over his tweet about Justice Bobde and the Harley Davidson motorcycle he was seen on, Bhushan’s counsel could well cite an authoritative SCC Journal article on contempt by the late senior counsel, Vinod A. Bobde, which noted, somewhat presciently:

“We cannot countenance a situation where citizens live in fear of the court’s arbitrary power to punish for contempt for words of criticism on the conduct of judges, in or out of court.”

Pbhushan1

Incidentally, Vinod A. Bobde happens to be the brother of the current chief justice of India.

In November 2009, the apex court had issued a contempt notice to Bhushan for allegedly casting aspersions on some sitting and former top court judges in an interview to the now defunct Tehelka magazine.

The matter, which was not heard by the apex court as per the record available on the top court’s website since May 2012, that is, for eight long years, has now been listed for hearing on July 24.

The pending contempt matter of 2009 against Bhushan will also be heard by a bench headed by Justice Mishra on Friday as per the list of business of July 24, uploaded on the apex court website.

(With inputs fro PTI)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to advocate Prashant Bhushan and Attorney General KK Venugopal on the suo motu criminal contempt proceedings it has initiated against the lawyer for his alleged derogatory tweets against the judiciary, PTI reported.

It observed that the tweets prima facie “brought administration of justice into disrepute and are capable of undermining the dignity and authority of the Supreme Court in general and the office of the Chief Justice of India in particular, in the eyes of the public at large”, Live Law reported. “We take suo motu cognizance of the aforesaid tweet also apart from the tweet quoted above [in the order] and suo motu register the proceedings,” the top court added.

The top court, which had also initiated proceedings against social media company Twitter India, directed that Twitter Inc of California be made a party in the case. Senior lawyer Sajan Poovayya, who appeared for Twitter India, said they have been impleaded incorrectly. He also stated that the tweet in question could be disabled after a court order.

A three-judge bench of Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari suggested that Twitter should itself disable Bhushan’s alleged contemptuous tweets, according to News18. “Why can’t you do it on your own?” the court asked Poovayya. “Even after we have initiated the contempt proceedings, do you want to wait for a formal order? We think we won’t pass any order and will leave it your wisdom.”

The lawyer said he will convey the court’s order to his client. “Now that the court has taken suo motu cognisance, I get what my lordships are saying,” Poovayya added. “I will convey the message.”

The top court asked Venugopal to assist in the matter and will hear the matter next on August 5.

During the hearing, Mishra pointed out the tweets posted by Bhushan on June 27 and 29. The first tweet commented about undeclared emergency and the role of Supreme Court and last four chief justices of India. The second tweet was about Chief Justice SA Bobde trying a Harley Davidson superbike in his hometown Nagpur.

The Supreme Court had pulled up Bhushan in 2013 too, when he had made “disturbing remarks” against the judges hearing the coal scam. Bhushan had wondered why the court did not take action against Goolam E Vahanvati, the attorney general in the UPA government, for allegedly lying in court. He later apologised to the court.

More recently, in March 2019, Bhushan turned down the Supreme Court’s offer to “unconditionally apologise” to the court for seeking that Justice Arun Mishra recuse himself from hearing a contempt plea against him. In February 2019, Attorney General KK Venugopal had filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Bhushan for allegedly scandalising the court with his tweets on the turmoil in the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In recent months, Bhushan took up the cause of migrant workers in the Supreme Court, arguing that the government’s mishandling of the Covid-19 lockdown had created a humanitarian crisis. The judges had rebuked him for his criticism of the court. In the past, Bhushan has made statements about the treatment of activists such as Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj, who are imprisoned in the Elgar Parishad case.

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