SC: Suo motu contempt proceedings against Prashant Bhushan

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising Justices B R Gavai and Krishna Murari will take up the matter on Wednesday. The suo motu contempt proceedings have been initiated against Bhushan for publishing two tweets, the first tweet, which was posted on June 27 alleged that the last four Chief Justices had played a role in the "destruction of democracy" during undeclared "emergency" for last six years.

"When historians in future look back at the last 6 years to see how democracy has been destroyed in India even without a formal Emergency, they will particularly mark the role of the Supreme Court in this destruction, & more particularly the role of the last 4 CJIs", said the tweet by Bhushan.

And the second tweet on June 29 allegedly said the present Chief Justice rode a stationary bike at Nagpur while keeping the apex court in lockdown and denying citizens their right to access to justice. The apex court has been hearing cases through video conferencing all through the lockdown period.

The tweet said, "CJI rides a Rs 50 lakh motorcycle belonging to a BJP leader at Raj Bhavan Nagpur, without a mask or helmet, at a time when he keeps the SC in lockdown mode denying citizens their fundamental right to access Justice!"