New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday told the counsel appearing for advocate Prashant Bhushan, during a hearing on sentencing in a contempt case where the court held Bhushan guilty, that the court has always been fair to him, but do not know whether he has been fair to the court.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra told senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing Prashant Bhushan, “We are always fair to you. We do not know whether you are fair to us.”
The bench told Dave if it were to impose a sentence on Bhushan, held guilty of contempt, the sentence will not be carried out till he files a review plea against the August 14 verdict, and it is decided by the top court. On August 14, the apex court held Bhushan guilty of making derogatory remarks against the judiciary through two tweets, which were later disabled by Twitter.
The top court said it is not keen on entertaining a plea by Bhushan to defer hearing on sentence till his review petition against conviction for criminal contempt is decided. The bench said the judgment is complete only after the sentencing.
During the hearing, Bhushan quoted Mahatma Gandhi and contended that he will not apologize for the two tweets and cheerfully accepted the punishment that will be given to him.
Bhushan said, “inflict any penalty on me for that which the court considers an offense, and I consider to be my bonafide duty”.
The hearing on sentencing is in progress.
Earlier on the 17th August 2020 Advocate, Prashant Bhushan has resigned from the governing bodies of NGOs Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), Common Cause, and Swaraj Abhiyan.
Bhushan said in a tweet: “People are asking if I have resigned from CommonCause, CPIL and Swaraj Abhiyan. I have resigned from the GBs (governing bodies) of these since the Bar Council was hounding me citing a rule that I can’t appear in court for an organization if I am on its governing body. I will continue to do their cases and guide them.”
SOURCE: IANS
