Prashant Bhushan Contempt Case: ‘If You Hurt Someone, Why Not Apologise?’ Asks Supreme Court

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan on August 25 defended his tweets on the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde & the Supreme Court that led to a contempt case against him. Bhushan refused to retract or apologise for his tweets after the court's three-day window ended on August 24. In a 100-page statement, he said the tweets represented a bonafide belief that he holds and an apology, conditional or unconditional, would be insincere. Retracting now would be a "contempt of my conscience" and the court, he said. After a gripping back-and-forth in the courtroom and an emotional statement by outgoing judge Arun Mishra, the court reserved its judgement on the quantum of sentence. Exchanges between Bhushan’s lawyer Rajeev Dhavan, the government's top lawyer KK Venugopal & Supreme Court judges that started around noon went past lunch time. "If you are hurting someone, then what is wrong in apologising," Justice Arun Mishra said. “This institution must take criticism, and not just criticism but extreme criticism. Your shoulders are broad enough,” said Rajeev Dhavan, Prashant Bhushan’s lawyer. Dhavan also argued that an apology cannot be coerced. As per him, Bhushan could be forgiven with a message, not even a reprimand or warning. The Attorney General said several sitting and retired judges had commented on corruption in the higher judiciary. Attorney General requested the court not to consider Bhushan's statement. “How can we not? Everyone is criticising us that we haven't considered his response which according to us is even more derogatory. Now if we remove it, we will be blamed we deleted this on our own,” said Justice Arun Mishra.