Prashant Bhushan, a lawyer mired by controversies, is now staring at more trouble as a lawyer has sought to initiate contempt proceedings against him over a tweet criticising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde's trip to Kanha.
Notably, CJI Bobde had travelled to the Kanha Tiger Reserve, the largest national part in Madhya Pradesh, on October 18 (Sunday) and left on October 21 (Tuesday). The trip owed itself to the court closing for the Dussehra holidays.
Taking to his official handle on Twitter, Bhushan had criticised the CJI for availing a special chopper provided by the Shivraj-Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government while an important case was "pending before him."
"The CJI avails a special chopper provided by the MP Govt (authorised by the CM) for a visit to Kanha National Park& then to his home town in Nagpur, while an important case of disqualification of defecting MLAs of MP is pending before him. Survival of MP govt depends on this case," Bhushan had tweeted.
In reaction to his tweet, Supreme Court Advocate Sunil Singh has sought contempt proceedings against Bhushan for "scandalising" the Supreme Court.
In his letter to Attorney General KK Venugopal seeking his consent to initiate the contempt proceedings, advocate Singh stated that the tweet was published in several newspapers. The tweet "scandalises the Supreme Court, prejudices and interferes with the due course of judicial proceedings and administration of justice," the letter stated.
Earlier, Bhushan was pulled up and convicted for two tweets posted on June 27 and 29, which relate to his disparaging comment about the Supreme Court and its last four Chief Justices and his mocking of Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde.
The activist and advocate was later let off with a token fine of Re 1 for his two tweets critical of judiciary.