Petition Against Prashant Bhushan, Aaj Tak For Maligning Judiciary

The petition alleges that it is usual practice for Shri Prashant Bhushan to malign the judiciary.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Prashant Bhushan)

A contempt petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by five lawyers from Lucknow against advocate Prashant Bhushan, and news channels Aaj Tak and Times Now for allegedly making 'reckless imputations' against the judiciary, Live Law reported.

The petition was mentioned by advocate Vishnu Jain on Thursday, 9 August, before Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra who said, “We will see”.

The advocates, Ranjana Agnihotri, Bandana Kumar, Durgesh Kumar Tiwari, Pankaj Kumar Verma, and Ashutosh Mishra filed the petition upon objection to certain comments made by Bhushan after the judgment on Sahara Birla Payoffs case and Judge Loya death case, Bar and Bench reported.

The petition alleges that it is “usual practice of Shri Prashant Bhushan to malign the Hon’ble Judges and the institution of judiciary if he fails to get favorable judgment from the court attributing reasons for passing the judgment/order against him."

Last year, Bhushan had filed a petition on behalf of Common Cause seeking a probe into alleged payoffs made by the Birla and Sahara Groups to the then-Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi. His petition was dismissed, after which Bhushan made public statements, terming it a ‘black day’ in the history of the Supreme Court.

The petition also mentions the dismissal of the Tehseen Poonawalla v. Union of India case that sought a probe into the death of Judge Loya. The petition states that Prashant Bhushan addressed the press about the verdict of the case with a "with a view to scandalize the judges and the institution of judiciary."

The statements of Bhushan were broadcast throughout the day by news channels Aaj Tak and Times Now, the petition states, for which the petitioners have also sought to initiate a criminal contempt against Bhushan, the editor-in-chief of Aaj Tak, and tje editor-in-chief of Times Now under Article 129 of the Constitution of India read with Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, Bar and Bench reported.

(Inputs from Live Law, Bar and Bench)