16 prominent civil society members from varying fields of work have filed an intervention application in the suo motu contempt proceedings pending against Prashant Bhushan before the Supreme Court, legal news website LiveLaw.in has reported.
The applicants, through Advocate Prasanna S, have stated that expressing opinion about functioning of the constitutional judiciary or any other public institution is a constitutionally guaranteed right. Thus, initiation of contempt proceedings against Bhushan for his tweets criticizing the judiciary has a 'chilling effect' on the right to exercise freedom of speech and violates the rights enshrined in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, they have said.
They have urged the top court to allow debate and discussion regarding its functioning without those expressing their honest opinion fearing "retribution" of criminal contempt.
It is pointed out that most functioning democracies such as the USA and the UK have circumscribed the concept of criminal contempt and even the Indian courts should interpret the provision, Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, keeping with the 'march of the law'.
The Applicants include activists Aruna Roy, Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey, Dr.Syeda Saiyidain Hameed and Paul Divakar; former civil servants, Deb Mukharji and Wajahat Habibullah; Professors at JNU, Jayati Ghosh and Prabhat Patnaik; ex-Secretary in Ministry of Power and Finance, EAS Sarma; journalist P. Sainat etc.