Arun Shourie interview: ‘Judgments judges deliver, their conduct, determine public esteem, not a tweet’ / Prashant Bhushan stands firm: no apology, my duty to future
NB: Let alone a judge, can any impartial person examine the SC's judgements on the death of Judge Loya and conclude that there is nothing disturbing about the manner it was disposed of ? Are we to keep our mouths shut when serious cases involving high and mighty politicians are closed in a suspicious manner; when trial judges die and the murder case is pulled out of a High Court bench only to be suppressed by the CJI (in this case Dipak Misra)? When a case of sexual harrassment against a sitting justice (in ths case Ranjan Gogoi) is dismissed without the complainant being given a copy of the reasons? Should not justice not only be done but seen to be done? Who is committing contempt, Prashant Bhushan or someone else?.. DS
On the day the Supreme Court heard arguments on the sentencing of Prashant Bhushan,
the advocate it convicted last week for contempt of court over two tweets,
former Union Minister, journalist and author Arun Shourie, told The
Indian Express that if the Court is offended by a comment, it must, by
law, give the person the opportunity to prove his assertion since truth is a
defence. Incidentally, Shourie, along with Bhushan and journalist N Ram,
had filed a separate petition before the Supreme Court, challenging the
constitutionality of Section 2 (c) (i) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
which defines criminal contempt if one “scandalises or tends to scandalise, or
lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court”. They withdrew the
petition later.
This is the interview with Shourie...
Q: The Supreme Court
has held that the two tweets by Prashant Bhushan shake the faith of the people
in the Supreme Court, that they undermine “the central pillar of democracy” in
our country. And, therefore, must be dealt with severely. Bhushan does not
agree, nor do several senior lawyers who have written strongly-worded articles
against the Supreme Court’s judgment. On whose side do you come down – the
Supreme Court’s or Bhushan’s?
Shourie: Not just that, they have said that his
tweets will frighten the lower judiciary: ‘If the SC can’t protect itself, how
will it protect us?’ More than that: the two tweets will lower India’s image
abroad - for India is looked up to as a democracy and these tweets undermine
the central pillar of that democracy. No advertising executive could have devised a better
advertisement for the company that owns Twitter: ‘Come, join Twitter: see, so
powerful is our platform that with just two tweets you can undermine the
central pillar of the largest democracy in the world’. The judgment brings out not Prashant’s view of this central
pillar, but the view of the Judges: that this central pillar is now so hollowed
out, that it is so fragile that a mere puff of two tweets can put it in
jeopardy....
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/arun-shourie-interview-judgments-judges-deliver-their-conduct-determine-public-esteem-not-a-tweet-6563485/Prashant Bhushan stands firm: no apology, my duty to future
Convicted of criminal contempt by the Supreme Court for two of
his tweets, Advocate Prashant Bhushan Thursday firmly stood his ground making
it clear to the court that he didn’t want to apologise and
in this “moment of history,” this was his “responsibility to the future.” The court, after hearing arguments on the quantum of
punishment to be awarded to Bhushan, reserved its order and gave him time to
apologise. “We have given time to the contemnor to submit unconditional
apology, if he so desires. Let it be filed by 24.08.2020. In
case apology is submitted, the case to be posted for consideration on the same,
on 25.08.2020”, the bench of Justices Arun Mishra, B R Gavai and Krishna Murari
ordered....
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/prashant-bhushan-contempt-case-supreme-court-6563516/Anil Nauriya - The Angst of August: Reading The Recent Political History of India // Express editorial: Prashant Bhushan judgement - the Supreme Court has diminished itself
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