Tweets not meant to disrespect SC, will pay Re 1 fine, says Prashant Bhushan

The Supreme Court on Monday imposed a token fine of Re 1 on advocate Prashant Bhushan, convicted in a contempt case for tweets against the judiciary, which if he failed to deposit by September 15, the penalty will then be 3 months in jail and the senior advocate will be barred from practicing law for three years.

The Supreme Court held advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court for his tweets criticising Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and the judiciary.

Prashant Bhushan reacted to the verdict and said,"My tweets were not intended to disrespect SC but were meant to express my anguish at what I felt was deviation from its sterling record... This is a watershed moment for freedom of speech & seems to have encouraged many people to speak out against injustices."

He further said,"My lawyer and senior colleague Rajiv Dhavan contributed 1 Re immediately after the contempt judgement today which I gratefully accepted."

“I propose to submit myself to this order and will respectfully pay the fine as I would have submitted to any lawful punishment,” Bhushan said at a press conference in Delhi. “I reserve my right to seek a review and will pay the fine Re 1.”

My tweets were not intended to disrespect SC but were meant to express my anguish at what I felt was deviation from its sterling record... This is a watershed moment for freedom of speech & seems to have encouraged many ppl to speak out against injustices: Lawyer Prashant Bhushan pic.twitter.com/F62i2oUruM

— ANI (@ANI) August 31, 2020