Advocate Prashant Bhushan has shared on Twitter that he has accepted the Supreme Court’s verdict and the punishment meted out to him.Taking to Twitter, Bhushan stated that his lawyer Rajeev Dhavan had immidiately paid up the Rs 1, that the SC had decided as his penalty.
Bhushan wrote further that he had ‘gracefully’ accepted the punishment.
https://twitter.com/pbhushan1/status/1300348492322205696?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIt is notable here that earlier today, the SC had announced the quantum of punishment for Prashant Bhushan in the contempt case. The court had asked Bhushan to pay the penalty of Rs 1 for being guilty of contempt of court or face three months of jail time and suspension of his law practice in the apex court for 3 years.
Bhushan accepts that he was guilty
It is notable here that Prashant Bhushan had launched a campaign claiming that the contempt of court case against him is a violation of democratic values and he refuses to accept it. He had also refused o apologise despite repeated insistence by the SC. Lofty op-eds and tweets were written by his supporters in the media and social media hailing him as a hero. One columnist for Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper had even gone to the extent of suggesting that Bhushan should be made Congress president so that he could guide Rahul Gandhi.
By accepting the punishment, Bhushan has accepted the fact that he was guilty of contempt.
The top court had last week reserved its judgment in the case after Attorney General KK Venugopal and defence lawyer Dr Dhawan argued before the court that Bhushan should not be made ‘martyr’ in the contempt case and instead forgiven with a message to not repeat such acts.
Last month, the top court, in a landmark judgement, held advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court. The case pertained to two tweets where Prashant Bhushan had cast aspersions against the Supreme Court and specifically, CJI Bobde.