India’s Supreme Court has found a prominent lawyer and civil rights activist guilty of contempt of court.

It took action on its own authority against Prashant Bhushan, 63, for posting tweets that were allegedly derogatory to the top court.

Mr Bhushan could face a jail term, but his sentencing has been set for 20 August.

He has defended himself saying the right to free speech included the right to criticise members of the judiciary.

“These charges are serious charges,” a three-judge bench said, while delivering the verdict via video conference.

India’s court proceedings have been taking place virtually due to Covid-19 cases rising across the country.

The two tweets in question by Mr Bhushan were both posted in June. While one referred to the current Chief Justice Sharad Bobde the other referred to the conduct of the previous four chief justices.

His lawyer has argued that the tweets were not against the court itself but rather the personal conduct of the judges.

In an affidavit to the court, Mr Bhushan said that to “critique the actions of a chief justice, or a succession of chief justices, cannot and does not scandalise the court, nor does it lower the authority of the court”.

“To assume or suggest that ‘the chief justice of India is the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court is the chief justice of India’ is to undermine the institution of the Supreme Court of India,” he said.

He also wrote that the “freedom of expression and the concomitant right to criticise includes a fair and robust criticism of the judiciary. This cannot amount to contempt of court or lowering the dignity of the court in any manner”.

India has some of the world’s strictest contempt of the court laws. Those who have been guilty of them include a sitting high court judge, CS Karnan, business tycoon Vijay Mallya and author Arundhati Roy.