SC gives Bhushan time to rethink statement in contempt case

"It would be contemptuous on my part to offer an apology," said Bhushan

Days after holding him guilty of criminal contempt for his tweets, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked Prashant Bhushan to rethink over his statement. It gave him an offer to tender an unconditional apology, reminding him of the Lakshman Rekha and a fine balance between freedom of speech and dignity of the Institution.

The court gave him time till August 24 to offer the apology. It concluded hearing on sentence in the contempt case. The sentence may go up to the maximum six months jail with or without fine.

The activist-advocate, for his part, maintained that his tweets were bona fide attempt to discharge his duty as a citizen and he would not seek an apology and would rather cheerfully submit to any penalty.

Hearing the matter on the quantum of sentence arising out of August 14 judgement, a bench of Justices Arun Mishra, B R Gavai and Krishna Murari told the counsel, "If you do not balance (between freedom of speech and expression and dignity of the judiciary) your comments, you will destroy the institution."

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"We do not punish for contempt so easily. Balancing has to be there, a restraint has to be there. There is a Lakshman Rekha for everything. Why should you cross the Rekha," the bench told the counsel.

Maintaining that his statement was "well-considered and well thought of", Bhushan said he would welcome the court's offer but it was very unlikely that he would change his statement.

Bhushan, who was present during the virtual court hearing, said, "I would have been failing in my duty if I did not speak up at this juncture of history. It would be contemptuous on my part to offer an apology".

The judgement, which held him guilty of criminal contempt for "false, malicious and scurrilous" tweets made in June, attracted strong reactions from former judges, senior advocates and others.

Arguing for Bhushan, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan asked the court to look at the person of Bhushan, who fought pro bona cases like coal and 2G scam, FCRA, mining scams.

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"Doing 100 good things does not give a person licence to commit 10 crimes," Justice Mishra said, adding, he has not taken contempt against a single person in his judicial career but balancing and restraint were issues.

During the hearing, Attorney General K K Venugopal asked the court not to punish Bhushan. He said five sitting judges have said the democracy has filed and several former judges have spoken about corruption in the judiciary.

"We will have to consider if Bhushan's statement is defence or aggravation," the bench said.

The court also said it could not consider the A-G's proposal unless Bhushan did rethink on his statement. It fixed August 25 as the date of the hearing if Bhushan offered the apology, otherwise, it would pronounce the sentence.

The court refused to consider Bhushan's plea to defer hearing on sentence till his review petition against conviction is filed and decided. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave said heavens would not fall if the court deferred its hearing.

The court said judgement is complete only after the sentence. There should not an impression that there was an effort to avoid this bench, the court said.

In his statement, Bhushan paraphrased Mahatma Gandhi, "I do not ask for mercy. I do not appeal to magnanimity. I am here, therefore, to cheerfully submit to any penalty that can lawfully be inflicted upon me for what the court has determined to be an offence, and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen."