New Delhi, Nation Now

Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan, held guilty of contempt for his tweets criticising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and the Supreme Court, has been fined Re 1 by the top court. If he doesn’t pay the fine by September 15, he can face jail for three months and a ban from practising for three years.

“Freedom of speech cannot be curtailed,” said the Supreme Court while handing down the sentence, referring to “sane advice” from Attorney General KK Venugopal to the court and to Prashant Bhushan.

Prashant Bhushan, photographed holding up a Re 1 coin, told reporters he would reveal later today whether he would pay the fine or confront the other options.

“My lawyer and senior colleague Rajiv Dhavan contributed 1 Re immediately after the contempt judgement today which I gratefully accepted,” the 63-year-old tweeted.

My lawyer & senior colleague Rajiv Dhavan contributed 1 Re immediately after the contempt judgement today which I gratefully accepted pic.twitter.com/vVXmzPe4ss

— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) August 31, 2020

(NDTV Feed)