SC reserves verdict on sentence against Prashant Bhushan over his tweets

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on quantum of punishment against activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan for his tweets against judiciary and Chief Justice SA Bobde. 

"We reserve the judgement in the issue. We have heard all the arguments and submissions from all the respective parties and petitioner and respondent," a bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice Arun Mishra said.

Attorney General (AG) K K Venugopal reiterated his appeal to the Apex Court to forgive the senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan in the tweet contempt case. "The Supreme Court can warn him but not punish him," Venugopal appealed to the top court. This case and controversy can be closed by a mild reprimand of Bhushan. 

"If SC punishes him the controversy will snowball into a bigger one - one group making Bhushan a martyr and the other saying he is rightly punished," Dr Rajeev Dhavan, lawyer for Bhushan told the Apex Court today during the course of the hearing which went on for almost two hours. 

After hearing the detailed arguments, the Top Court reserved the verdict on the quantum of sentence to be given to Bhushan, already convicted for contempt of court charges for his two tweets. 

The Apex Court had on August 14 held Bhushan guilty of contempt of court for his two tweets.

One was posted on June 27, pertaining to the functioning of the judiciary in the past six years. And, another was on July 22 with regard to Chief Justice SA Bobde, who was on a mobike and for not wearing mask. 

It is to be noted that Justice Arun Mishra, leading the bench, is going to retire on September 2, so it is expected that the judgement would be delivered before September 2. (UNI)