A very undignified stubbornness

Clearly, Prashant Bhushan is determined to force the apex court to punish him. Repeated appeals by the court to allow him to say sorry for its contempt so that both can move on were most stubbornly frustrated by the PIL lawyer. At Tuesday’s hearing, the court again gave him an opportunity to apologise. But Bhushan would not budge. Let me go unscathed, or punish me, he seemed to suggest. The court faces a serious dilemma. Letting him go without even a mild rap on the knuckles would be an act of generosity, nay, highmindedness. But the only problem in pursuing such a course is that Bhushan and his ilk, who daily pillory the higher judiciary in the garb of a fair and just criticism, will be further emboldened to traduce it. Forgiveness will be read as weakness by the likes of Bhushan and his band of supporters in the Bar and outside. The conduct of judges is tested daily on the anvil of well-established norms, proprieties, principles and precedents. No such concerns seem to curb the freedom of lawyers like Bhushan. They do as they please. The misuse and abuse of PIL for private and commercial ends is often sought to be masked by an assertion of well… public interest. Bhsuhan should name and shame the lawyers and others behind this well-known scam. What prevents him from trying and cleansing the Bar? Judges are an easy target. Is it because exposing the wrongdoing of his colleagues may leave him vulnerable?