By Weindrila Sen-
The Apex Court said that it will take a larger view in question regarding contempt of court case against Prashant Bhushan. While hearing the 2009 contempt case against Prashant Bhushan, the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had put forward two questions which should be answerable, firstly “In case you have any grievance against any judge, what should be the process? In what circumstances can such allegations be made?“, secondly “When some matter is subjudice, to what extent can the matter be argued through media or another mode?“. The Hon’ble Supreme Court remarked while hearing the 2009 contempt case against Prashant Bhushan after they made judicial corruption statement in an interview with Tehelka magazine.
The three bench judges comprising of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai and Justice Krishna Murari further added that “We want to hear (the case) because if the question is left, it will not be good for later on“.
Upon the request of Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Advocate Prashant Bhushan, Justice Mishra agreed to consider hearing the matter by a larger bench. The case will next be heard on 24.08.2020. Advocate Dhavan further submitted that Bhushan shall seek for a judicial review as the 14.08.2020 contempt judgment had many imbalances. He also added that the comment made by Bhushan does not amount to constitutional contempt by itself as the allegations were not against sitting judges.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan was charged with contempt of court back in 2009 after he had made allegations against former Chief Justice of India S.H.Kapadia and K.G.Balakrishnan along with other judicial corruption remarks in an interview to Tehelka magazine. The Apex Court had taken suo motu cognizance of the case, and the petition was held to be maintainable by a three-judge bench.