Prashant Bhushan Case: Veteran Group Condemns CJAR Criticism Against Top Court Verdict, Submits Petition To President

The group comprising former High Court judges, bureaucrats, Army veterans, and intellectuals, has raised concerns related to CJAR, saying, they wrongly claimed to solely represent the civil society, and use every opportunity to strike at the roots of Indian democratic institutions

Indian Supreme Court lawyer and anti-corruption activist Prashant Bhushan. FILE PIC/AFP.

New Delhi: A group of veterans has raised strong protests against certain bodies, primarily the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR), which has criticized the Supreme Court judgment in the Prashant Bhushan contempt of court case. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra found two tweets by lawyer Prashant Bhushan amounting to “serious contempt of court”. After the verdict, CJAR and other groups have alleged that the Supreme Court is muzzling criticism of the process of justice delivery system in a democratic country. Also Read: Sushant Death Case Not Related To Bihar Elections, It's About Justice: CM Nitish Kumar To ABP News The group comprising former High Court judges, bureaucrats,  Army veterans, and intellectuals, has raised concerns related to CJAR, saying, they wrongly claimed to solely represent the civil society, and use every opportunity to strike at the roots of Indian democratic institutions such as the Parliament, Election Commission of India, and now, the Supreme Court of India. The veteran group has submitted a petition to the President on the 30th of July, 2020. It said, “Stray groups with hidden political agendas, claiming to be the sole custodians of Constitution and Democracy, cannot be allowed to denigrate the democratic institutions, in particular the Supreme Court of India. This is not the first time that Prashant Bhushan has objectionally criticized the Courts without any basis or evidence. This is also not the first occasion when he has made utterances which were inflammatory in nature. CJAR, counts, amongst its committee, Prashant Bhushan himself, apart from a few others such as. Arundhati Roy etc; which shows that they are working on an agenda to plead their own cause extra-judicially.” While submitting the plea, it also said in case of involvement of Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, the contempt of the Court is something that cannot be justified by any pressure group. The legal profession is a solemn and serious occupation, with Constitutional, professional and ethical obligations. Any violation of the principles of professional ethics by an advocate is unfortunate and unacceptable, the group had strongly asserted.