Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 24
Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Monday refused to apologise for his contemptuous tweets scandalising the judiciary and asked the Supreme Court to recall its August 14 order convicting him of contempt of court.
In a fresh statement filed in the top court, a defiant Bhushan said an insincere apology would amount to "contempt of my conscience and of an institution that I hold in highest esteem".
An apology for expression of beliefs, conditional or unconditional, would be insincere, Bhushan said in a two-page statement filed in the court.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing Bhushan, urged the court to recall its conviction order. "There should not be any attempt to coerce the contemnor into making on apology on the basis that nothing else would be acceptable."
Dhavan said Bhushan's comments were opinion made in good faith founded on true facts, adding similar opinions were made before as was demonstrated by Attorney General KK Venugopal, who too had urged the court not to punish Bhushan.
Dhavan sought to highlight the fact that in the present controversy, similar comments were made by Justices Lokur, Kurian Joseph and AP Shah, besides veteran journalist Arun Shourie and others in the public and reported by the media. "It would follow that they were all in contempt," Dhavan submitted.
The top court had on August 20 granted time till August 24 to Bhushan to reconsider his "defiant statement" refusing to apologise. The matter is to be heard today.
Bhushan said he believed the Supreme Court was the last bastion of hope for the protection of fundamental rights, the watchdog institutions and indeed for constitutional democracy itself. He faces simple imprisonment of up to six months or with a fine of up to Rs 2,000, or both.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/32BDZOz
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