Will respectfully pay Rs 1 fine: Prashant Bhushan
New Delhi : Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan has been found guilty of contempt for his tweets criticising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and the Supreme Court. The top court fined him with Rs 1 which he needs to pay by September 15, failing to do so may land him in jail for three months.
"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 was later clicked holding Rs 1 coin; he told the press, "I propose to submit to the order and respectfully pay the fine."
He mentioned that Supreme Court is always the "last bastion of hope for the weak and oppressed" and he never intended to hurt the judiciary, but wanted to express his anguish on a "deviation from its record".
The Supreme Court, which had asked for an unconditional apology from the lawyer, noted, "We gave several opportunities and encouragement to (Prashant Bhushan) to express regret. He not only gave wide publicity to the second statement but also gave various interviews to press."
"We hope it was the first and the last occasion that judges have gone to the press, and God gives wisdom to protect its dignity by an internal mechanism. Particularly when allegations made, if any, publicly cannot be met by sufferer judges," the Supreme Court said.
Soon after the ruling, Bhushan had tweeted: "My lawyer and senior colleague Rajiv Dhavan contributed 1 Re immediately after the contempt judgement today which I gratefully accepted." He also said it was "heartening to see this case has become a watershed moment for freedom of speech".
