There’s a Lakshman Rekha for everything: SC to Bhushan
New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice Arun Mishra told Prashant Bhushan there is a Lakshman Rekha for everything, alluding to a set of norm or convention that should never be broken. The remark came on Thursday during the hearing on sentencing of Bhushan who was convicted of criminal contempt.
A bench headed by Justice Mishra told Bhushan if you do not balance your comments, then you will destroy the institution, and the court does not punish for contempt so easily. “Balancing has to be there; restraint has to be there. There is a Lakshman Rekha for everything. Why should you cross the Rekha?” said Justice Mishra.
Bhushan contended that he had fought cases in the apex court for public interest at some personal and professional cost and insisted that his tweets were not done in a fit of absent-mindedness.
Justice Mishra said the court welcomes pursuing good cases in public interest. “I haven’t convicted anyone of contempt in over 20 years as a judge. This is my first such order,” said Justice Mishra.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing Bhushan, contended before the court that there is no substantiation of how the two tweets have brought down the majesty of the apex court.
Dhavan asked the bench to explain what made the court think that the content of Bhushan’s tweet was a “scurrilous attack”. Dhavan argued that the tweets are transitory. The hearing on sentencing is in progress.