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Supreme Court has granted two days to activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who has been held guilty of contempt, to reconsider his ‘defiant statement’ refusing to apologise for his contemptuous tweets against the judiciary.
Bhushan told a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra that he would consult his lawyers and think over the apex court’s suggestion.
Attorney General K K Venugopal urged the bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai and Krishna Murari, not to award any punishment to Bhushan in the contempt case saying he has already been convicted.
The bench said it cannot consider the request of Venugopal unless Bhushan reconsiders his earlier stand of not apologising for his tweets.
The tone, tenor and content of Bhushan’s statement makes it worse; is it defence or aggravation, the court told Venugopal.
The top court said it can be very lenient if there is realisation of mistake, and posted the matter for further hearing on August 24.
At the outset, it rejected the submission of Bhushan’s counsel that another bench hear the arguments on the quantum of sentence to be awarded in the case. A contemnor can be punished with simple imprisonment of up to six months or with a fine of up to Rs 2,000 or with both.
The bench gave assurance to Bhushan that no punishment will be acted upon till his review against the order convicting him is decided.
