Attorney General K K Venugopal urged a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra to not punish Prashant Bhushan but “warn” him if necessary and let him go. (file)

Attorney General K K Venugopal Tuesday appealed to the Supreme Court to take a “compassionate view” and forgive senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan who was convicted of criminal contempt for his two tweets. However, the court said the lawyer has not apologised yet and has even made disparaging remarks in the affidavit filed in his defence.

On August 14, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra found two tweets by Bhushan amounting to “serious contempt of court” and found him guilty of criminal contempt. Bhushan had refused to apologise for his tweets, saying they were not done in “absence mindedness” and were nothing but a small attempt to discharge what he considered to be his “highest duty at this juncture in the history of our republic”.

Venugopal urged a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra to not punish Bhushan but “warn” him if necessary and let him go. To this, Justice Mishra replied, “But if Bhushan ji is not having any inkling that he has done anything wrong, what effect do you think such an advise will serve?”

He further said the court had given Bhushan time but he refused to apologise.

The bench took the AG through the affidavit filed by Bhushan in his defence, saying that he made disparaging remarks against the top court here as well. “Prashant Bhushan says SC has collapsed, is it not objectionable?” the bench asked the AG.

To this, AG Venugopal said, “I think he (Bhushan) should withdraw it in entirety and express regret.” He also said the court should let him off if he apologises.

Venugopal had urged the top court last week as well to spare Bhushan from any punitive action.

Meanwhile, a new Supreme Court bench will hear the 2009 contempt case against Bhushan from next month as Justice Arun Mishra retires in the first week of September. The bench headed by Justice Mishra said the matter will be listed before an appropriate bench on September 10 as they are ‘short of time’.

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