Last week, the Supreme Court of India suo motu registered a case of contempt against lawyer Prashant Bhushan. The court registered the proc...
Last week, the Supreme Court of India suo motu registered a case of contempt against lawyer Prashant Bhushan. The court registered the proceedings after a petition was moved citing two tweets Bhushan had published over the last two months. In the tweets, the lawyer had commented on Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and about the general functioning of the court under the last four chief justices. The court said it found the tweets prima facie contempt.
The Supreme Court also brought up for hearing a contempt case registered against Bhushan more than a decade ago in 2009 for statements made to a magazine, alleging corruption among former chief justices. The next hearings in these cases will take place in August.
The contempt of court law is one of the most controversial elements in the Indian legal context. While the basic idea of a contempt law is to punish those who do not respect the orders of the courts, in the Indian context, contempt is also used to punish speech that lowers the dignity of the court and interferes with the administration of justice.
Courts require contempt powers to ensure their orders are implemented – so goes the argument. This, supporters of the law would...
