NEW DELHI: Noted activist and lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was slapped with a contempt notice by the Supreme Court for his tweets in the M Nageswara Rao appointment case, has received the backing of at least 10 prominent activists now.
The activists, who include Aruna Roy, Arundhati Roy and Shailesh Gandhi, filed an application in the apex court to intervene in the contempt plea filed by Attorney General K K Venugopal against Bhushan for his tweets.
They have said in their application that they are concerned about initiation of the contempt proceedings against Bhushan for exercising his freedom of speech.
Bhushan had said on the microblogging site Twitter that the government appeared to have misled the top court and perhaps submitted fabricated minutes of meeting of the high-powered selection committee headed by the Prime Minister in the appointment of Rao as interim CBI director.
Apart from this, a separate plea has been filed by five senior journalists, seeking intervention in the case.
The court while issuing notice to Bhushan on February 6 on the contempt plea, said it would examine whether in sub judice matters, advocates and litigants briefing the media would amount to interference in the administration of justice.
During an earlier hearing, the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had said that the court was not averse to media reporting of cases, but lawyers appearing in sub judice matters should refrain from making public statements. The court had issued notice to Bhushan and had asked him to respond to the contempt plea within three weeks.
The others backing Bhushan include Wajahat Habibullah, Harsh Mander, Jayati Ghosh, Prabhat Patnaik, Indu Prakash Singh, Bezwada Wilson and Nikhil Dey.
‘Freedom of speech’
Activists Aruna Roy, Arundhati Roy, Shailesh Gandhi, Harsh Mander, Indu Prakash Singh, Jayati Ghosh, Nikhil Dey, Wajahat Habibullah, Prabhat Patnaik and Bezwada Wilson said they are concerned at the contempt proceedings against Bhushan for exercising his freedom of speech.
‘Govt misled top court’
Bhushan had tweeted that the government appeared to have misled the SC and perhaps submitted fabricated minutes of the meeting of the high-powered selection committee headed by the PM in the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as interim CBI director.