A petition has filed in the Supreme Court seeking contempt proceedings against India Today employee Rajdeep Sardesai for his tweets on the suo-motu contempt case against Prashant Bhushan and judiciary.
According to the reports, the plea which sought contempt action against Rajdeep Sardesai for making comments against country’s judiciary stated that Rajdeep Sardesai’s tweets showed that these were “not only a cheap stunt of publicity among people but a deliberate attempt to spread hatred in form of Anti India campaign.”
https://twitter.com/barandbench/status/1304024508794200065?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe petitioner has also sought the consent of Attorney General KK Venugopal for initiating contempt proceedings against Rajdeep Sardesai.
Rajdeep Sardesai had criticised the Supreme Court after the apex court had convicted controversial far-left activist Prashant Bhushan for making disrespectful remarks against the Supreme Court.
While it is not yet clear which tweet of his has warranted petition on contempt of court proceedings, here are the few tweets Rajdeep Sardesai had made after Supreme Court had found Prashant Bhushan guilty in the contempt proceedings against him.
https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/1300365628973314049?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIn another tweet, Rajdeep Sardesai had criticised the Supreme Court over its ruling on Prashant Bhushan case while claiming that the apex court had time to hear contempt case while habeas corpus petitions of those detained in Kashmir was pending for more than a year.
https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/1294152007175909377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw He had also said that the contempt of court case agains Bhushan was an embarrassment of its own making by the Supreme Court. https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/1300325557087870978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw In one more tweet he had asked the courts on how to do their job. https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/1285877838932062208?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe Contempt case against Prashant Bhushan
On August 31, the Supreme Court let off convicted senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, held guilty in contempt of court, with a nominal fine of Re 1. However, the court added that if Bhushan fails to pay a fine of Re 1, he will be sentenced to 3 months in jail and suspension of his lawyering for 3 months.
The case pertained to two tweets where Prashant Bhushan had cast aspersions against the Supreme Court and specifically, CJI Bobde.
The court had then granted additional time for Prashant Bhushan to consider providing an unconditional apology for his scurrilous remarks. However, in his vanity of portraying himself as Mahatma Gandhi, Bhushan refused to apologise, claiming to tender an apology would tantamount to “contempt of his conscience.”
Responding to the Supreme Court verdict asking Prashant Bhushan to pay a token fine of Re 1 for his tweets against the judiciary, the senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan issued a protracted statement, admitting to paying the fine but indicated that he would file a review petition against the order.