Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Monday had fined Rs 1 against the Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan in connection with the suo motu criminal contempt case over his tweets accusing former Chief Justices of India of corruption. He has been asked to pay the fine before September 15 failing which he would be jailed for three months and would be barred from practising law for three years.
A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, had reserved its order on August 25 reserved its judgement on the sentence of Bhushan in connection with the case.
Reserving its order on the quantum of sentence, Justice Arun Mishra had said that there is no harm in apologising if a mistake had been done.
During the hearing, advocate Dr Rajeev Dhavan appeared for Bhushan and submitted that Bhushan has the highest regard for the institution but he has his opinion about last four Chief Justices of India (CJIs) about the way in which this court has gone wrong.
Attorney General KK Venugopal had said that several sitting and retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts (former) have commented upon corruption in the higher judiciary and suggested to let Bhushan go with a warning if he expresses regret for his remarks.
Bhushan was earlier this month held guilty of contempt of court by the SC for two of his tweets, the first one posted on June 29, related to his comment/post on a picture of CJI Bobde on a high-end bike.
In his second tweet, Bhushan expressed his opinion on the role of last four CJIs amid the state of affairs in the country.
Meanwhile, another contempt of court case against Prashant Bhushan is also pending before the SC.