The attorney general of India, KK Venugopal, filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court on Monday against advocate Prashant Bhushan for his February 1 statements made on social media platform Twitter that accused Venugopal of misleading the court on the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as the interim Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director.
On February 1, Venugopal, during the course of hearing on a petition challenging Rao as the interim CBI director, told the court that the appointment was cleared by a high-powered committee (HPC) of the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Hours after the hearing in the court of Justice Arun Mishra and Navin Sinha, Bhushan tweeted, “I have just confirmed personally from the Leader of Opposition Mr [Mallikarjun] Kharge that no discussion or decision in HPC meet was taken re appt of Nageswara Rao as interim Director CBI. The govt appears to have misled the court and perhaps submitted fabricated minutes of the HPC meeting!”
In his petition, Venugopal said Bhushan, through his tweets, had not just scandalised and lowered the authority of the court but also tried to interfere and obstructed the administration of justice. He junked Bhushan’s assertions and sought from the court that Bhushan be suitability punished for contempt of court.