SC seeks Attorney General's assistance in 2009 contempt case against Prashant Bhushan

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought assistance of Attorney General K K Venugopal in deciding a 2009 contempt case against advocate Prashant Bhushan for his Tehelka magazine interview accusing half of 16 retired Chief Justices of India as corrupt.

A fresh bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the A-G and fixed the matter for consideration on October 12.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Bhushan, submitted as per Rule 10 of the Supreme Court Rules, the Attorney General has to be invited.

The court had on last date said that it would add more questions of law on top of the 10 submitted by us, he said.

Earlier, the case was heard by a three-judge bench presided over by Justice Arun Mishra (since retired).

The court had then said it will consider larger questions pertaining to contempt of court and allegations against judges.

On August 31, the top court imposed nominal fine of Re one on Bhushan as sentence after having held him guilty of Suo Motu criminal contempt on August 14 for his tweets.