DISSENT AND CONTEMPT
The Supreme Court has suo moto slapped contempt charges against eminent lawyer
Prashant Bhushan's two tweets criticism of the eminent judges triggering a
debate amongst the legal community and the citizens. It seems strange to many
that the Bench whilst delivering judgement on Rajasthan speaker and dissent by
rebel MLAs categorically stated that "The voice of dissent cannot be shut down"
and the same Bench is doing precisely the opposite in not tolerating the
dissent and opinion of many others like prominently JusticeMarkandey Katju,
articulated by Prashant regarding corruption in the judiciary and unflattering
perception of judgements by the top court. Many supreme Court judges in India
and abroad have handled similar and worse aspersions cast upon them with broad
shoulders, tolerance and maturity. Justice Krishna Iyer stated "The best answer
to abuse of a judge is not frequent and ferocious contempt sentencing but fine
performance". And even when publically called old fools a wise British Justice
Templeman reportedly said " That I'm old is a fact. Regarding fool that
perception I do not have to agree!". The perception of government sensitivity
to criticism must not be seen as being emulated but strongly rejected by the
Supreme Court in a Democracy and in public interest which is the last bastion
left to defend freedom of speech which it has been exemplarily doing so far!
