Bhushan stands ground, says he will not apologise
In a statement he submitted to the apex court, Bhushan said the views he expressed represented his bona fide (good faith) beliefs and, therefore, offering an apology for expressing such beliefs would be insincere.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan stood his ground on Monday, refusing to apologise to the Supreme Court for his posts on Twitter criticising the top court and Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde.
In a statement he submitted to the apex court, Bhushan said the views he expressed represented his bona fide (good faith) beliefs and, therefore, offering an apology for expressing such beliefs would be insincere.
“An apology cannot be a mere incantation and any apology has to be sincerely made. If I retract a statement before this court that I otherwise believe to be true or offer an insincere apology, that in my eyes would amount to the contempt of my conscience and of an institution (Supreme court ) that I hold in highest esteem,” he added in the supplementary statement submitted through advocate Kamini Jaiswal .
According to the details available on the Supreme Court website, the case will be taken up on Tuesday to consider the effect of the supplementary statement submitted by Bhushan.
The Supreme Court , on August 20, asked Bhushan to reconsider his stance and offer an apology by Monday failing which, it cautioned the activist lawyer, it would proceed against him and punish him for criminal contempt of court. Even at the time, Bhushan said that while he appreciated the court’s move of giving him time, he would not change his mind.
“I believe that the Supreme Court is the last bastion of hope for the protection of fundamental rights, Today in these troubling times, the hopes of the people of India vest in this Court to ensure the rule of law and the Constitution and not an untrammelled rule of the executive. This casts a duty, especially for an officer of this court like myself, to speak up, when I believe there is a deviation from its sterling record,” Bhushan said.
He maintained that the tweets put out by him were in good faith and were not intended to malign the apex court or the CJI but only offered constructive criticism so that the court could arrest any drift away from its longstanding role as a guardian of the Constitution.
In the written arguments submitted separately by Bhushan’s counsel, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, reliance was placed on attorney general (AG) KK Venugopal’s opinions regarding corruption and nepotism in the judiciary. The AG , during the hearing of the matter on August 20, asked the apex court not to punish Bhushan while highlighting that he himself made a speech in 1987 pointing out certain ills plaguing the judiciary.
“Contemnor’s (Bhushan) comments were opinion made in good faith founded on true facts. Similar opinions were made before (in 1987) by the Attorney General. On this basis, the Attorney General has counselled against punishment,” Bhushan said in his written submissions.
The court found Bhushan guilty of the offence of criminal contempt on August 14. According to the Contempt of Courts Act, the offence carries a punishment of up to six months in prison or a fine up to Rs 2,000 or both.
Bhushan posted two tweets, one against the Supreme Court on June 27 and another against CJI Bobde on June 29.
Bhushan’s first tweet said: “When historians in the future look back at the last six years to see how democracy has been destroyed in India even without a formal Emergency, they will particularly mark the role of the SC in this destruction, and more particularly the role of the last four CJIs.”
The second referred to CJI Bobde and said: “The CJI rides a Rs 50-lakh motorcycle belonging to a BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] leader at Raj Bhavan, Nagpur, without wearing a mask or helmet, at a time when he keeps the SC on lockdown mode denying citizens their fundamental right to access justice!”
Mehek Maheswhari, an advocate, filed a petition before the Supreme Court on July 9 seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against Bhushan for the tweets. Based on Maheshwari’s petition, the court took suo motu {on its own}cognizance of the matter and listed the case for the first time on July 22 and issued notice to Bhushan the same day.
After a day-long hearing on August 5, the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on August 14, holding Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt of court. It however, kept the matter for further hearing on August 20 to decide on the sentence to be imposed on Bhushan.
When the case was taken up on August 20, Bhushan read out a statement prepared by him. In his statement, Bhushan expressed dismay at the judgment of August 14 convicting him, stating that the conclusion against him was arrived at without providing any evidence of his motives. He said that he was standing by his tweets, which he described as an attempt to discharge his duty towards the country. He also invoked Mahatma Gandhi’s stance in a case slapped against him by the British government.
“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,” Bhushan said.
The three-judge bench headed by justice Arun Mishra maintained that it could show leniency only if Bhushan expresses regret and reconsiders the statement made by him on August 20 declining to apologise.
“We have given time to the contemnor to submit unconditional apology, if he so desires. Let it be filed by August 24,” the order said.
