NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court gave two days’ time to Prashant Bhushan to reconsider his statement on the contempt case against him. Excerpts of the courtroom exchange between the bench of Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari and senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave and Bhushan:
Dave: I want to bring to court’s notice the plea filed by Bhushan to defer the punishment till the review petition is filed and decided. I have 30 days to file the review petition and the order of conviction can then be reviewed.
Justice Mishra: But this remedy is consequential. You can file a review after our final orders.
Justice Gavai: Why do you want to give an impression that you want to avoid these proceedings?
Dave: And why my lordships want to give an impression that this bench wants to decide everything before Justice Arun Mishra retires? Heavens aren’t going to fall if sentencing is deferred till the review is decided.
Justice Mishra: Suppose I weren’t retiring, should I have placed this matter before some other bench for deciding the sentence?
Dave: In the larger interest of people, in larger interest of this institution, the sentencing must be deferred. This can’t be hurried like this.
Justice Gavai: It was Rajeev Dhavan’s statement on August 17 that review was ready to be filed.
Dave: It’s ready but why should we file it now? We have time of 30 days, i.e., till September 14 to file our review.
Dhavan: I am not going to ask for deferment. Let the judges’ words be final. Mr Bhushan wants to make a statement.
Bhushan reads out the statement: I am pained not because I can be punished but because I have been misunderstood. These two tweets represented my bonafide belief, expression of which should be permissible in any healthy democracy.
Dhavan: From 2G to coal block, from Goa mining to PWC case, from FCRA funding to CVC selection case, RTI — all this were Prashant Bhushan’s case. You (bench) must examine who is the person before this court. When your judgment will reach academy, it will be severely criticised. Over 19 pages were ‘cut and paste’ from Vijay Kurle’s judgment.
Justice Mishra: Don’t worry. We are open to fair criticism. Restraint has to be shown by everyone. There is a Lakshman Rekha for everything. Why cross it? I haven’t convicted anyone of contempt in 24 years as a judge. This is my first such order.
Justice Mishra to AG K K Venugopal: What should be done when someone who has been convicted of contempt, says he has no remorse. Should we give him time?
AG: This court may give him some time but knowing him...I can say he has done some tremendous good work.
Justice Gavai again ask Bhushan: Do you want to reconsider your statement?
Bhushan: No. I don’t want to reconsider it...I don’t want to waste my lordships’ time.
Justice Mishra: You better reconsider it. Don’t just apply legal brain here.
Bhushan: I will consult my lawyers then. I will think over.