Days after senior advocate Prashant Bhushan was found guilty of contempt, a petition has now been filed with the Attorney General for initiating contempt of court proceedings against actress-cum-activist Swara Bhaskar.
The petition was filed by advocate Anuj Saxena, Prakash Sharma & Mahek Maheshwari on behalf of one Usha Shetty. Reportedly, the petitioners argued that Swara Bhaskar tried to scandalise the court through her comments made during a conference titled, ‘artists against communalism’ that has was held in Mumbai in February this year.
Petition filed before Attorney General of India seeking consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Swara Bhaskar @ReallySwara alleging that she scandalized the court by saying “courts are not sure if they believe in constitution” at a meeting in Mumbai in February 2020.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 17, 2020
The objectionable comments of Swara Bhaskar
Swara Bhaskar has been a vocal critic of the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict that was delivered by the apex court in November last year. During the conference ‘artists against communalism’, the actress said, “We are living in a country where the Supreme Court of our country states in a judgment that the demolition of the Babri Majid was unlawful and in the same judgment rewards the same people who brought down the mosque.”
According to the petition, Bhaskar @ReallySwara said “we are living in a country where the SC states in a judgment that demolition of Babri Masjid was unlawful and in the same judgement rewards the same people who brought down the mosque”
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 17, 2020
“We are now in a situation where our courts are not sure whether they believe in the constitution or not,” Bhaskar further alleged. The petitioners have argued that the actress resorted to a ‘cheap stunt of publicity’ in a bid to make the people revolt against the apex court. The petition reiterated that the objective of her comments was to stir a feeling of ‘no-confidence’ among the masses against the Supreme Court and its judges.
The contempt case against Prashant Bhushan
On August 14, the Supreme Court found Prashant Bhushan guilty for two tweets where he had raised aspersions on the apex court, and specifically against the Chief Justice of India. The apex court observed that the insinuation by Bhushan is not an attack against an individual but on the institution itself. In the first tweet, Bhushan had lied that the CJI has been keeping the Supreme Court under a lockdown, while in reality, the SC had heard thousands of cases.
In the second tweet, Bhushan had claimed that the Supreme Court of the country has played a role in destroying the democracy in the last 6 years, and last 4 CJIs had a crucial role in it.
