The Supreme Court (SC) has held Advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court for tweeting against Chief Justice of India SA Bobde. He has been fined for Re 1 and if he fails to pay the fine, he can be imprisoned for 3 months or banned from practising law for three years.
The SC had asked for an unconditional apology from the lawyer, but he did not submit any apology.
“Freedom of speech cannot be curtailed but rights of others need to be respected,” SC said.
Prashant Bhushan has said that he will take a “collective decision” on whether to pay the fine or look for alternate solutions.
The apex court on August 14 had held Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt for his two derogatory tweets against the judiciary. Attorney General KK Venugopal had requested the court to forgive Bhushan with a message that he should not repeat this act.