NEW DELHI: Hours after paying Rs 1 fine in the Supreme Court, advocate Prashant Bhushan on Monday filed a review petition asking the top court to reconsider his conviction for contempt over two tweets posted in June that raised questions about the current and four former chief justices of India (CJIs).
Bhushan was held guilty of contempt on August 14 and asked to pay a token Rs 1 fine. He has cited several grounds for his objections to the verdict, including the fact that the bench that delivered it was headed by Justice Arun Mishra who retired earlier this month.
“It is respectfully submitted that the judgment whose review is being sought suffers from multiple errors apparent on the face of the record of both law and of fact,” stated the petition, seeking an open-court hearing on the matter.
As per the Supreme Court rules review petitions are not heard in open court. A review petition is heard and decided through circulation by judges in their chambers. In his review plea, Bhushan has assailed the verdict on multiple grounds.
According to Bhushan, Justice Mishra has, in the past, orally accused him of committing contempt of court when he merely mentioned that it may be inappropriate for a particular judge to hear a case in circumstances where conflict of interest was involved.
According to the lawyer, he had had “reasonable apprehensions” about not getting a fair hearing in the matter.