The Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa passed a resolution on Wednesday supporting the Supreme Court’s judgment against Prashant Bhushan holding him in contempt for his tweets made against the Chief Justice of India, S.A. Bobde.
The Council represents the interests of 1,75,000 lawyers in Maharashtra and Goa, and said, “It is unfortunate that when political ends of lawyers are not served by a decision of the Court, they vilify the Court by making scandalising remarks. The Supreme Court of India as well as the judges are subject to both scurrilous language, malicious attacks and scandalising remarks. Legitimate criticism of both judgments and the functioning of the institution has always existed, however, when the system [is] miscalculated and actuated by malice, it is the authority of the Court which is undermined.”
The resolution, signed by chairman Subhash Ghatge, also said: “If the judiciary is to perform its duties and functions effectively, it is essential to protect the dignity and authority of the Courts. The foundation of the judiciary is the confidence of the people in its ability to deliver justice. The actions of these institutional disruptors through name calling and usage of certain phrases such as ‘Supreme Court has destroyed democracy’, the ‘Supreme Court is killing the Constitution’ have the tendency to destroy the fort [faith] of the public in the judiciary.”
It went on to say: “We are in total agreement with steps taken by the Justice delivery System of India. We unanimously state that the efforts of pressurising Hon’ble Judges by making reckless statements are in total derogation of the Constitution of India. The trend to malign Supreme Court is dangerous & must be dealt with Iron hand. Anyone who maligns the Supreme Court of India must be dealt as per law. We repose confidence in the entire Judicial System and we condemn the efforts to pressurise the judiciary.”
The resolution has been forwarded to the Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and the Chairman of the Bar Council of India.
On August 14, the Supreme Court held Mr. Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt for tweeting against the judiciary. The tweet commented on a photograph of CJI Bode sitting on a Harley Davidson bike. Another tweet spoke of four CJIs playing a role in destroying democracy.
