Contempt: SC Gives Time to Rethink But Bhushan Sticks to His Guns

The bench led by Justice Arun Mishra which had held Prashant Bhushan guilty earlier on 14 August, had reserved the penalty to be delivered on 20th August.

(Photo: The Quint)

After being held guilty of contempt, lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan was told that if he rethinks the statements that he's made against the judiciary in his tweets, then the Supreme Court would consider whether to be lenient with penalties or not.

The bench led by Justice Arun Mishra which had held Prashant Bhushan guilty earlier on 14 August, had reserved the penalty to be delivered on 20 August. While Bushan's plea seeking to defer the contempt sentencing was rejected by the court, the 3-judge bench gave him two-three days to reconsider his statements assuring that "no punishment will be acted upon" until a decision on his review petition.

But this sentence hearing was an interesting one, with a lot of back and forth between the Supreme Court's observations on whether or not he had crossed the line with his freedom of speech and sharp statements from Bhushan’s lawyers on truth as a defence for contempt.

What are the highlights from the contempt hearing against Prashant Bhushan? Tune in to The Big Story!