AG declines to give consent for contempt proceedings against Prashant Bhushan

AG declines to give consent for contempt proceedings against Prashant Bhushan

Advocate Sunil Kumar Singh in October, 2020 sent a letter to Attorney General KK Venugopal against Prashant Bhushan’s tweet over CJI’s MP visit. The tweet questioned CJI for using Special Chopper to visit MP which was provided by MP government during pendency of case regarding disqualification of defecting MLAs of MP State. He sought permission from AG to initiate the proceedings contending that the tweet scandalizes the Supreme Court and also creates prejudices and interferes with the due course of proceedings of the ape court.

The AG has refused to initiate any such criminal contempt case against Advocate Prashant Bhushan. He said that Bhushan has already expressed his regret over making such remarks against CJI by stating on twitter itself that he was incorrect on his part while saying such things about the CJI and government. He further said that- “I do not think that it would be in public interest to give consent for proceeding on the basis of the original tweet in view of the subsequent tweet expressing regret.”

He also said that in November 2020 Bhushan realized his mistake and expressed his regret over his earlier tweet and stated publicly that he was incorrect to say that the fate of the State of MP lies with the case pending before CJI.