The Supreme Court on Tuesday initiated a contempt proceeding against noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan and listed the hearing for tomorrow (22 July). The Supreme Court comprising Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari will hear a suo motu against Bhushan.
Although it’s not known what has triggered the Supreme Court to initiate the contempt proceedings against Bhushan, but one of his law tweets had highlighted the alleged questionable role of the top court. He had tweeted on 27 June, “When historians in future look back at the last 6 years to see how democracy has been destroyed in India even without a formal Emergency, they will particularly mark the role of the Supreme Court in this destruction, & more particularly the role of the last 4 CJIs.”
When historians in future look back at the last 6 years to see how democracy has been destroyed in India even without a formal Emergency, they will particularly mark the role of the Supreme Court in this destruction, & more particularly the role of the last 4 CJIs
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) June 27, 2020
In another tweet on 29 June, Bhushan had taken a dig at Chief Justice of India SA Bobde after a photo of him riding a Harley Davidson bike went viral. Bhushan ahd tweeted, “CJI rides a 50 Lakh motorcycle belonging to a BJP leader at Raj Bhavan Nagpur, without a mask or helmet, at a time when he keeps the SC in Lockdown mode denying citizens their fundamental right to access Justice!”
CJI rides a 50 Lakh motorcycle belonging to a BJP leader at Raj Bhavan Nagpur, without a mask or helmet, at a time when he keeps the SC in Lockdown mode denying citizens their fundamental right to access Justice! pic.twitter.com/PwKOS22iMz
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) June 29, 2020
According to the Livelaw website, another contempt case registered in 2009 against Bhushan and Tarun Tejpal, former Editor of Tehelka magazine, has also been listed for hearing before the same bench for 24 July.
In April this year, the Supreme Court had seen an interesting exchange of words between Bhushan and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on the erosion of faith in the Indian judiciary. This was during the hearing on the movement of migrant workers amidst the nationwide lockdown. Bhushan, who was appearing on behalf of the petitioners, had argued that the central government was not enforcing the fundamental rights of migrant workers, who remained stuck in various parts of the country during the lockdown period.
But before the hearing could commence, Justice Kaul had asked Bhushan, “You don’t have faith on us. How can we hear you? An order can always be criticised.”
Bhushan had replied, “I have never said that I have no faith in this institution. I only expressed my views. Some retired judges are also saying the same thing. The court is accepting whatever the government is stating without verifying.”
The questionable role of the Supreme Court has been dominating social media conversations in the last few years.