Lawfare, Contempt of Court – Journalists and Others

A contempt petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by five lawyers from Lucknow against advocate Prashant Bhushan, and news channels Aaj Tak and Times Now for allegedly making ‘reckless imputations’ against the judiciary, Live Law reported. The petition was mentioned by advocate Vishnu Jain on Thursday, 9 August, before Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra who said, “We will see”.

The advocates, Ranjana Agnihotri, Bandana Kumar, Durgesh Kumar Tiwari, Pankaj Kumar Verma, and Ashutosh Mishra filed the petition upon objection to certain comments made by Bhushan after the judgment on Sahara Birla Payoffs case and Judge Loya death case, Bar and Bench reported. The petition alleges that it is “usual practice of Shri Prashant Bhushan to malign the Hon’ble Judges and the institution of judiciary if he fails to get favorable judgment from the court attributing reasons for passing the judgment/order against him.”