Kaafi Real: Contempt of Court Amid Freedom of Speech & Expression

Bhushan being convicted for contempt of court, despite the right to freedom of speech and expression is kaafi real.

On the eve of India’s 74th Independence Day, the Supreme Court held Prashant Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt of court in its suo motu contempt case against the activist lawyer.

The judges have not decided the punishment for the offence, and will hear Bhushan on the matter of sentencing on 20 August, after which they will pronounce their decision on the same.

The contempt case relates to the following tweets by Bhushan on his Twitter handle:

1. On 27 June, he wrote: “When historians in future look back at the last 6 years to see how democracy has been destroyed in India even without a formal Emergency, they will particularly mark the role of the Supreme Court in this destruction, & more particularly the role of the last 4 CJIs.”
2. On 29 June, he shared an image of CJI Bobde sitting on a Harley Davidson superbike, commenting that the CJI was sitting on a bike belonging to a BJP leader without a mask or a helmet, at a time when the Supreme Court was “denying citizens their fundamental right to access Justice” because it was in lockdown mode.

(Kaafi Real is a series of cartoons on The Quint. You can check out all our other Kaafi Real cartoons here.)