Prashant Bhushan faces contempt proceedings for tweeting against justice
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court issued a notice asking Prashant Bhushan to seek his response on why action should not be taken against him for tweeting serious allegations against the judiciary. The high court also asked Twitter India, against whom contempt proceedings have been opened, why it had not deleted Mr Bhushan’s tweets when contempt action became apparent.
The Indian branch of the microblogging website said it would take the Supreme Court’s message to its parent company Twitter Inc.
Last month, Mr Bhushan tweeted: “When historians look into the future over the past 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, and more in particular the role of the last 4 CJI “.
The Supreme Court asked the attorney general to assist the court on the matter, adding that the good part in this case is California-based Twitter Inc and not Twitter India. A three-judge bench consisting of Judges Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari then allowed the social media company to file a petition it deemed appropriate in the matter.
The Supreme Court alone initiated contempt proceedings against Mr Bhushan for two tweets, one of which alleged that India’s four former chief justices had played a role in destroying democracy in the past six years.
The other tweet took a look at a photo of Indian Chief Justice SA Bobde sitting on a Harley Davidson superbike in Nagpur last month. The tweet noted that the chief justice was not wearing a helmet or face mask “at a time when he is keeping the SC in Lockdown mode, depriving citizens of their basic right to access justice.”
“We have been presented with a petition for contempt of court proceedings on the administrative side. We have gone through the petition and the allegation against CJI SA Bobde. The tweet in question was tweeted on June 27 … We are sending a notice to Attorney General. We also note that the good part here is Twitter Inc of California and not Twitter India. Twitter is allowed to file a suitable claim, “the Supreme Court said.
The court will hear the case on August 5.
