Contempt Case: Prashant Bhushan Moves SC for Review of Conviction

A fine of Re 1 was imposed on Bhushan by the apex court in connection with the contempt case.

Image of Supreme Court and Prashant Bhushan used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against its verdict convicting him under contempt of court for his tweets about the judiciary.

Bhushan has sought an open court hearing and stated that the suo motu contempt plea should not have been heard by Justice Arun Mishra, reported Bar & Bench.

A fine of Re 1 was imposed on him by the apex court in connection with the contempt case.

On Monday, 14 September, Bhushan deposited in the Supreme Court Registry the draft of the one rupee fine that was imposed on him by the Supreme Court in connection with a contempt case related to his recent tweets about the judiciary.

Before entering the registry to pay the fine, Bhushan addressed the media, saying that he had received contributions from many for paying the fine and that a "truth fund" would be made out of the same to provide legal aid to those persons imprisoned by the State for expressing dissenting opinions.

However, he made it clear that paying the fine did not mean that he had accepted the judgment of the Supreme Court, adding that he would be filing a review petition against the verdict on Monday.

On 12 September, Bhushan filed a writ petition before the apex court, urging it to issue directions declaring that a person convicted for criminal contempt by it, including the petitioner, would have a right to an intra-court appeal to be heard by a larger and different bench. The plea was filed through his counsel Kamini Jaiswal.

The Supreme Court had, on 21 July, initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Bhushan over his alleged derogatory tweets against the judiciary. The apex court also initiated contempt proceedings against Twitter India for the same.