Convicting Prashant Bhushan for contempt fine, but don’t punish him: Attorney General to SC

New Delhi: Attorney General K.K. Venugopal submitted before the Supreme Court that convicting advocate Prashant Bhushan in a contempt case was alright, but “do not punish him”.

A bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, B.R. Gavai and Krishna Murari replied to the A-G that the tone, tenor, and content of Bhushan’s statement makes it worse. The bench told Venugopal “is it defence or aggravation, you as A-G consider it.”

The A-G clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of the government of India but had responded to the notice issued to the Constitutional office of the Attorney General of India. He insisted, “I make the request to your lordships not to punish him.”

The bench replied that it would never punish anyone for contempt. “Please don’t make any statement till you consider what he has said in his reply”, the bench told the A-G. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing Bhushan, said the criticism of retired judges does not amount to contempt, and there are judgments to this effect.

The A-G contended before the bench that he has a list of 5 judges who talked about lack of democracy in the Supreme Court, and “I also have a list of nine judges who talked about judicial corruption.” Justice Mishra said “We aren’t hearing a review. Our conviction order is already here.”

Justice Gavai observed that “we have said it earlier as well there has to be a mutual respect between the bar and the bench.” Justice Mishra said that whatever has been done is done, and the court wants the person concerned to have a sense of remorse. “You may do hundreds of good things but that doesn’t give you a licence to do 10 crimes”, noted the bench.

Justice Mishra noted that it is after all about this that if a person wants to purge the contempt, one should also know where to draw a line. He added that criminal contempt has far serious consequences, and the court can be very lenient when a person recognises his mistake and expresses regret. The hearing on Bhushan’s sentencing in the contempt case concluded and it appears that he has been given some time to reconsider his statement.

Bhushan in a statement before the top court said, “My tweets were nothing but a small attempt to discharge what I considered to be my highest duty at this juncture in the history of our republic. I did not tweet in a fit of �absence mindedness’. It would be insincere and contemptuous on my part to offer an apology for the tweets that expressed what was and continues to be my bonafide belief. Therefore, I can only humbly paraphrase what the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi had said in his trial: I do not ask for mercy. I do not appeal to magnanimity. I am here, therefore, to cheerfully submit to any penalty that can lawfully be inflicted upon me for what the court has determined to be an offence, and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen.”

IANS

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