NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept senior advocate Prashant Bhushan’s explanation for his interview to a news magazine in 2009, wherein he had made allegations against former chief justices of India, and decided to proceed with the contempt case against him.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said the hearing will commence on August 17 on the aspect whether the statements were given by Bhushan amount to per se contempt or not, or his statement is sufficed or not, it will be heard on merit. The bench also turned down the request of senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, to list the matter once physical court hearings resume.
The top court had in November 2009 issued contempt notice to Bhushan and journalist Tarun Tejpal for allegedly casting aspersions on some sitting and former top court judges in the interview. Tejpal was then editor of the magazine. Last week, the bench had reserved its order after Bhushan offered an explanation for his interview but did not tender an apology.
“In my interview to Tehelka in 2009, I have used the word corruption in a wide sense meaning lack of propriety. I did not mean only financial corruption or deriving any pecuniary advantage,” his statement stated. Bhushan maintained that he supported the institution of the judiciary, and especially the Supreme Court. He clarified that he had no intention of lowering the prestige of the judiciary in which he has complete faith.
During the brief hearing last week, the bench had said it does not want to curtail the freedom of speech and expression but for the contempt, there is a thin line. On July 22, the top court had issued notice to Bhushan in a separate suo motu contempt proceedings initiated against him for his alleged derogatory tweets against the judiciary.