Plea in SC seeks live-streaming of suo motu contempt case proceedings against Prashant Bhushan

Advocate Amritpal Singh Khalsa moved to Supreme Court seeking directions to start live-streaming of the proceedings in the suo motu contempt case against Advocate Prashant Bhushan. The top court had earlier held Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court in a different contempt case for accusing past Chief Justices of India (CJIs) of involvement in corruption.

New Delhi: A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking directions to start live-streaming of the proceedings in the suo motu contempt case against senior advocate Prashant Bhushan.

The petition, filed by advocate Amritpal Singh Khalsa, said that the print and digital media has been glorifying Bhushan in their reporting and therefore urged for a live-telecast and video recording of the proceedings.

The contempt case against Bhushan will have a substantial effect as far as the Bar and the Bench are concerned, not only in India but across the world, the plea contended.

"The instant contempt case is one of the most sensational cases ever since the inception of the Supreme Court, the projection of Prashant Bhushan's case at the hands of print and digital media is nothing but glorifying him and his acts which tend to lower the respect and repute of the institution," the plea submitted.

It said that there is a lobby which has targeted Chief Justices in the past and of which Bhushan is one of the founding members. The lobby aims to destabilise the institution of the Supreme Court and "criticise to the lowest possible level when favourable orders are not obtained from the court", the plea alleged.

Notably, the Supreme Court yesterday reserved its order on the suo motu criminal contempt of court proceedings initiated against lawyer Prashant Bhushan for his two tweets in June concerning present and former Chief Justices of India.

Earlier, the top court had held Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court in a different contempt case for accusing past Chief Justices of India (CJIs) of involvement in corruption.(Inputs from ANI)