Prashant Bhushan Admits Mistake But Refuses To Apologize In AG’s Contempt Plea

Legal Insiders Mar 07, 2019 Lawstreet News Network 2 Shares

Senior Supreme Court Advocate, Prashant Bhushan today (March 7, 2019) admitted before the apex court that he made a "genuine mistake" by tweeting that the government had perhaps submitted fabricated minutes of a meeting of the high-powered selection committee on appointment of M. Nageswara Rao as an interim CBI director.

Also Read - Prashant Bhushan Pays Fine in Contempt case against him

In view of Bhushan’s statement, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the Bench comprising of Justices Arun Mishra and Navin Sinha that he would like to withdraw his contempt plea filed against Mr. Bhushan by stating that he “realized his mistake.”

Senior lawyer, Dushyant Dave, representing Prashant Bhushan, told the Bench that after hearing the Attorney General's statement, he is apologizing on behalf of his colleague and also withdrawing the recusal petition against Justice Arun Mishra from hearing the contempt case.

Also Read - Justice Lokur Expresses His Worries About Use Of Sedition Laws- “State Is Using Iron Hand To Curb Free Speech”

However, the Bench insisted that instead of Mr. Dave, Prashant Bhushan should come forward and apologize. To which, the latter refused and said he won't withdraw his plea seeking recusal of Justice Mishra.

When Mr. Venugopal told the Bench that he did not want any punishment for Prashant Bhushan in the matter, the Bench proceeded to say that now it would consider the larger issue of whether a person can criticise the court, when a case is subjudice, to influence public opinion.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on April 3, 2019.

Prashant Bhushan Pays Fine in Contempt case against him

Legal Insiders Sep 15, 2020 Lakshya Tewari ( Editor: Ekta Joshi ) 3 Shares

Senior Advocate and Human Rights activist Prashant Bhushan paid the fine of Rs. 1 on September 14, 2020. He deposited the fine in the Supreme Court Registry. The fine was taken from him in the contempt case over two of his tweets. He also told that he has been receiving funds from various parts of the country and with the help of that he will be creating “Truth Fund” in order to help and provide legal aid to those people who are jailed by the state for raising voice in order to dissent. He...

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Justice Lokur Expresses His Worries About Use Of Sedition Laws- “State Is Using Iron Hand To Curb Free Speech”

Legal Insiders Sep 15, 2020 Rhea Banerjee ( Editor: Ekta Joshi ) 5 Shares

Justice (Retd) Madan B Lokur recently expressed his worries regarding the present use of our sedition laws in an unreasonable manner. He has voiced his concerns over the widespread use of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the preventive detention against people for disagreeing with the policies. The judge said, “State is using an iron hand to curb free speech.”Lately, the Judge was addressing a virtual discussion on “Freedom of speech and Judiciary” conducted...

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