In Brief

In this suo moto contempt petition, the Supreme Court examined two tweets by advocate Prashant Bhushan criticising the Chief Justice of India and the Supreme Court's role in democratic governance. The Court held Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt. Though fair criticism of the judiciary is constitutionally protected under Article 19, false and malicious statements calculated to shake public confidence in the institution of the judiciary itself—as distinct from criticism of individual judges—constitute contempt. The Court emphasized that attacks undermining the public's trust in the Supreme Court strike at the foundation of the rule of law and democratic governance. The Court discharged Twitter Inc. as it merely hosts user content as an intermediary, but convicted Bhushan for scandalising the entire institution.

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