Activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan Thursday admitted in the Supreme Court to a "genuine mistake" in tweeting that the government had perhaps submitted to it fabricated documents of the high-powered selection panel on the appointment of interim CBI chief.
Bhushan refused however to tender "unconditional apology" in the apex court for seeking recusal of Justice Arun Mishra from hearing the contempt petition filed against him by Attorney General K K Venugopal.
The AG filed a contempt plea against Bhushan for his February 1 tweets in which he had said that the Centre appeared to have misled the top court and perhaps submitted fabricated minutes of the meeting of high-powered selection committee headed by the prime minister, in appointing M Nageswara Rao as interim CBI director.
During the hearing before a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Navin Sinha, Venugopal said he would like to withdraw his contempt plea since Bhushan has made a statement that it was a "genuine mistake".
He also reiterated that he does not want any punishment for Bhushan in the case and the court should deal with the larger issue of whether lawyers and litigants can criticise the court proceedings in a matter which is sub-judice to influence public opinion.
Justice Mishra, who initially said he would not recuse from hearing the contempt plea, later heard detailed arguments on Bhushan's application in which he has sought his recusal.
Venugopal told the bench that he would like to withdraw his contempt plea and said, "He (Bhushan) is prepared to make a statement before this court that he had made a mistake. In view of what is given to me in writing, I will withdraw my petition. He (Bhushan) has said that he had done a genuine mistake".
To this, the bench said, "You (Venugopal) may or may not withdraw the petition against him (Bhushan) but you have raised a question and we will decide it".
When Venugopal again said that he will not press for his plea against Bhushan, the bench said: "It is for us to decide not you to decide. We will decide everything. We will consider all these aspects. We understand Mr AG (attorney general) that you are very fair. We will consider everything."
At this juncture, the bench observed, "Everything has happened in the open court. We are repeatedly saying that we know our responsibility. Mr Dave, have faith in your judges."
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