SC refuses Prashant Bhushan's regret, to hear contempt case against him

NEW DELHI: The Supreme court on Monday refused to accept the Prashant Bhushan’s “regret" and explanation for his statement made in a 2009 case where Bhushan had remarked about judicial “corruption" while giving an interview to Tehelka magazine. The court has decided to continue the contempt proceedings and hear the case at length.

The bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra ordered that the court shall examine whether the statement made by Bhushan prima facie amounts to contempt. The hearing to commence on 17 August.

The bench also comprising Justices BR Gavai and Krishna Murari said "We need to check whether statements made regarding corruption amounts to contempt of court. Thus we need to hear the matter."

Allegedly, Bhushan in his statement had opinioned that half of 16 former Chief Justices of India were corrupt. The court has now decided to hear the case in details and ascertain that any comment on corruption against judges would per se amount to contempt or not.

Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhawan, speaking to Prashant Bhushan was likewise present while the judgment was being articulated through video conferencing. Senior Advocate Shanti Bhushan mentioned the summit court for the issue to be recorded when physical hearings



continue. Equity Mishra denied the solicitation. 

On 4 August the three appointed authority seat had saved its judgment. It had noted in its last dated request: "Clarification/statement of regret put together by Mr. Prashant Bhushan/Respondent No.1 and Mr. Tarun Tejpal/Respondent No.2, have not been gotten up until this point. On the off chance that we don't acknowledge the clarification/expression of remorse, we will hear the issue. We save the request."

The court had also expressed that they are in favour of putting an end to the matter in order to protect the dignity of the court and its judges. It then asked the parties to issues statements tendering their apologies.

On the issue of court reserving its judgement, Dhavan had pleaded that the court should not render any findings in the case before hearing the parties.

The case dates back to 2009 where Bhushan had made allegations against former Chief Justices of India SH Kapadia and KG Balakrishnan among other controversial remarks against the judiciary while giving an interview to Tehelka magazine.

The top court had taken suo motu cognizance of the case and a three judge bench on 10 November, 2010 had held that the petition was maintainable.