Contempt proceedings sought against Prashant Bhushan, again

More than three months after the Supreme Court (SC) convicted Prashant Bhushan of criminal contempt of court and slapped a token fine of Re 1 on him, the activist-lawyer has landed in a fresh controversy over his alleged comments against the judiciary.

Advocate Sunil Kumar Singh has sought Attorney General KK Venugopal’s consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against Bhushan for his recent comments made in an interview published in an English daily.

In the interview, Bhushan had allegedly said the independence of the judiciary had collapsed and that the Supreme Court didn’t function in an impartial manner.

Singh said it was a “gross insinuation against the entirety of the Hon’ble Supreme Court to say that it is not an independent and impartial institution but is willing to kowtow to the government. It is highly objectionable and audacious. It is a malicious attack on the SC”.