Bhushan counsel wants SC to recall its conviction order

AG asks top court to take ‘compassionate view’, forgive lawyer

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the quantum of punishment against senior advocate Prashant Bhushan who has been convicted of criminal contempt for his two tweets.

Even as the Supreme Court lamented the tendency to criticise sitting and retired judges and imputing motives to them publicly, the court said that Bhushan did not tender an apology for his offending tweets and neither did he reconsider his affidavit submitted to the court last week.

Tuesday’s proceedings began with attorney general K.K. Venugopal again appealing to the apex court to take a “compassionate view” and forgive

Bhushan. However, the court said Bhushan has not apologised and in fact made disparaging remarks in the affidavit filed in his defence. The

bench took the AG through the affidavit. “Prashant Bhushan says SC has collapsed, is it not objectionable?” the bench as Bhushan's lawyer

Rajeev Dhavan argued that an apology cannot be coerced and said, “This institution must take criticism, and not just criticism but extreme criticism. Your shoulders are broad enough.”

Dhavan added that the judgment convicting Mr Bhushan should be recalled and no sentence be imposed on him.

When Justice Mishra asked, “If we decide to punish him, what should be the punishment?,” Dhavan said, “If the top court wants to bar Bhushan from practise, it will have to hear him first... If you want to impose a jail term, my advice would be don't make Prashant Bhushan a martyr. Like what happened after Babri was demolished and Kalyan Singh was convicted of contempt."