The Supreme Court yesterday put motivated legal activist Prashant Bhushan in his place, by imposing a token fine of Re. 1 on him for contempt of court, while also warning him that default or non-payment of the same would lead to three months imprisonment and disbarment from practice at the top court for three years. The Supreme Court had taken suo moto cognizance of two tweets made by Bhushan, which demeaned the top court and the Chief Justice. The court had found Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt, and subsequently gave him ample opportunities for tendering an unconditional apology for his statements.
Meanwhile, senior advocate and the Former Advocate General for State of Karnataka BV Acharya stated, “The Supreme Court has shown its magnanimity in sentencing Prashant Bushan to pay meagre amount of Rs.1, as fine. Since it has become a habit with him to scandalise the Supreme Court frequently and his adamant attitude it would not have been proper to only reprimand or warn him. He has also rejected the proposal of the Attorney General to withdrawn his allegations.”
However, Prashant Bhushan was more inclined to make a martyr of himself. As a consequence, the man refused to apologise despite being guilty. BV Acharya further in his statement added, “He wanted to become a Martyr or a hero. The Supreme Court has now given him the choice, He may pay fine amount and remain a convict who has been sentenced to pay fine and avoid imprisonment and bar of practice for 3 years or choose the latter and became a martyr. In any event he cannot become a Gandhi or a Mandela.”
In one of the tweets, Bhushan had said four previous Chief Justices of India played a role in destroying democracy in the country since 2014. Another tweet was a reaction to a photo of Chief Justice Bobde on a Harley Davidson, where Bhushan had remarked he was without a helmet and face mask while keeping the court in lockdown and denying citizens their right to justice.
But, in what comes as a move which has gone a long way in exposing Bhushan for the duplicitous man that he is, the Supreme Court sentenced him to a token fine of Re. 1, which he ‘gratefully’ accepted. This comes after he had remarked in front of the court that apologising for the tweets would be“contempt of my conscience”.
Prashant Bhushan had invoked Mahatma Gandhi while refusing to apologise to the court. Essentially, Bhushan portrayed himself as a man who was willing to accept being punished for a crime which he did not commit, but an apology from his side for opinions that he held was out of the question. So, Bhushan’s invocation of Gandhi had the desired effect for him. India’s liberal circles were quick to call him a man who had entered the league of “Gandhi and Mandela”; however hilarious that proposition might sound, liberals made it nonetheless.
Would a Gandhi pay a token fine of Re. 1, if that came at the cost of accepting guilt where there was none? We think not. For Bhushan to indulge in extreme grandstanding, and pretend to be a person inspired by Gandhi who is willing to give up his life to protect dearly held principles, only to end up paying the token fine imposed on him by the top court goes on to show how duplicitous he is, not to mention how he was not able to gather the strength to face three-month jail time, being the elitist that he is. How can a man like Bhushan survive an Indian jail? While Gandhi and Mandela would have, Bhushan’s smiling face yesterday, holding a 1-rupee coin goes on to prove how claims of standing for one’s ‘principles’ are not an inch more than outright pretence.
The gang of liberals and activist-lawyers, who until the day before yesterday were drooling over Prashant Bhushan are still shamelessly claiming it as a moral victory. According to them, the Supreme Court imposing a token fine on Bhushan is a victory not of democracy, rather, it is a vindication of frivolous PIL shooters whose only claim to fame is that they successfully waste the time of India’s top court while pretending to protect principles they hold dear to themselves. What they fail to realise is, however, that they have been played by Bhushan. By coughing up the Re. 1 coin, Bhushan has admitted to guilt. An innocent and truly principled man would not do so.
The Supreme Court yesterday called out the bluff of the lawyer-activist gang too, rather fragrantly. First, it signalled to them that incessant and misinformed, not to mention downright derogatory remarks against the top court will not be tolerated. Second, it also exposed them for the disingenuous invertebrates that they are.