SC slaps contempt notice on Prashant Bhushan for 'derogatory' tweets

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 22) issued notices to Attorney General KK Venugopal and advocate Prashant Bhushan on the contempt proceedings it has initiated against the activist-lawyer for his alleged derogatory tweets against the judiciary.

The apex court directed that Twitter INC be made a party, instead of Twitter India, to the contempt proceedings it has initiated suo motu (on its own) and asked the US-based firm to file a response in the matter.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra was told by Twitter’s counsel that if the top court directs, then they would disable the alleged contemptuous tweets of Bhushan.

The bench, which asked the Attorney General to assist in the matter, has posted the case for hearing on August 5.

The allegedly contemptuous tweets were critical of the top court and posted by Bhushan on Twitter on June 27 and June 29.

Bhushan in one of the tweets had said, “When historians in future look back at the last 6 years to see how democracy has been destroyed in India even without a formal Emergency, they will particularly mark the role of the Supreme Court in this destruction, & more particularly the role of the last 4 CJIs.”

The other tweet was critical of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde for not wearing a helmet or a facemask when he say on a Harley Davidson bike in Nagpur last month, even though the same was applicable for other citizens.

(With inputs from agencies)