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Business News/ Opinion / Quick Edit/  Bhushan case: Let’s be thankful
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Bhushan case: Let’s be thankful

The lawyer will have to pay a fine of just one rupee for contempt of court. Our Supreme Court should be thanked and so also the man held guilty. But it still leaves people confused over what can and cannot be said of the apex court

Prashant Bhushan was fined by the Supreme Court after being judged guilty of contempt (HT)Premium
Prashant Bhushan was fined by the Supreme Court after being judged guilty of contempt (HT)

Of late, it has only been on rare occasions that our judiciary has inspired thankfulness. One such was on Monday, when the Supreme Court imposed a fine of just a single rupee on lawyer Prashant Bhushan for having scandalized it with tweets dispatched to his followers on Twitter. He was found guilty of contempt of court, no less, for his exertions.

Thankfully, Bhushan’s punishment is mild. Even more thankfully, he agreed to pay up—as reported. His mood had been defiant over the course of his trial. He’d refused to give the court an apology it demanded—in lieu of punitive action—for remarks that he claimed as expressions of his conscience. It’s not over yet, though. If he fails to pay up by his 15 September, he could still be flung into prison for three months and barred from practice for three years. That would be too steep a price for airing his views.

The real reason this sordid little drama over a few tweets is not over, however, is that observers are left wondering what exactly can or cannot be said of our apex court without offending it to the point of risking legal action. In one tweet, Bhushan was reported to have put out a picture of Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde astride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle allegedly owned by a leader of the country’s ruling party. In another, he had accused four past CJIs of having had an adverse impact on democracy. Usual stuff, by social media standards, but too much, it would seem, for the Supreme Court to let pass.

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Published: 31 Aug 2020, 06:37 PM IST
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