Prashant Bhushan fined Re 1 for ‘critical’ tweets

The Supreme Court on Monday imposed penalty of Re 1 on activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan. The lawyer was held guilty for his tweets critising the Chief Justice of India SA bobde and the Supreme Court. If Bhushan fails to pay the fine by September 15^th he can either be jailed for 3months or his practice will be banned for next three years.

The bench was headed by Arun Mishra. The bench also comprised of Justice BR Gavai who said that an order on sentencing was a must in the given circumstances.

"Freedom of speech cannot be curtailed," said the Supreme Court while handing down the sentence, referring to "sane advice" from Attorney General KK Venugopal to the court and to Prashant Bhushan.

Prashant Bhushan has said he will take a "collective decision" on whether to pay the fine or confront the other options.

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The court however agreed with Attorney General KK Venugopal's submissions that there does not need to be a stringent punishment or a jail term for Bhushan in view of his contribution as a lawyer.

The bench, in its order, took note that Bhushan chose not to apologise or express regret despite repeated opportunities.

It pulled him up for rather making statements in the press about the contempt proceedings and leaking his statements even before they were considered by the court.

It said court's decisions shouldn't be pre-empted by anyone by way of publications and public discussions.

On August 14, the bench had held Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt. It had then maintained that judges' magnanimity cannot be stretched to become a weakness against “malicious and calculated attack on judiciary."

"The scurrilous/malicious attacks by the alleged contemnor No.1 (Bhushan) are not only against one or two judges but the entire Supreme Court in its functioning of the last six years. Such an attack that tends to create disaffection and disrespect for the authority of this Court cannot be ignored. The alleged contemnor has attempted to scandalize the entire institution of the Supreme Court,” the conviction order had stated.

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