[Contempt Of Court] Seven More Retired Supreme Court Judges Express Solidarity With Prashant Bhushan

They are:

1. Justice Ruma Pal, former judge of the Supreme Court of India
2. Justice G. S. Singhvi, former judge of the Supreme Court of India
3. Justice Asok K Ganguly, former judge of the Supreme Court of India
4. Justice Gopala Gowda, former judge of the Supreme Court of India
5. Justice Aftab Alam, former judge of the Supreme Court of India
6. Justice Jasti Chelameswar, former judge of the Supreme Court of India
7. Justice Vikramjit Sen, former judge of the Supreme Court of India
8. Justice Anjana Prakash, former judge of the Patna High Court

Last week, a Statement was issued by former judges, former senior government officials, ambassadors, activists and academics, who believed that initiation of Criminal Contempt Proceedings against Bhushan over his tweets on judiciary amounts to "stifling criticism".

'Initiation Of Contempt Appears To Be An Attempt At Stifling Criticism': Former Judges/ Govt Officials/ Activists Express Solidarity With Prashant Bhushan

""In the past few years, serious questions have been raised about the reluctance of the Supreme Court to play its constitutionally mandated role as a check on governmental excesses and violations of fundamental rights of people by the state…

The initiation of contempt proceedings against Mr. Bhushan who had articulated some of these concerns in his tweets, appears to be an attempt at stifling such criticism, not just by Prashant Bhushan but by all stakeholders in the Indian democratic and constitutional setup. We believe the institution must address these genuine concerns," the statement read.

It was initially endorsed by two retired Judges—Justice Madan B. Lokur, former judge of the Supreme Court and Justice AP Shah, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.

Inter alia, it was endorsed by various former senior government officials, advocates, ambassadors, activists and academics including, Senior Advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, Senior Advocates Indira Jaising, C U Singh, Sanjay Hegde, Gopal Shankaranarayanan, Anand Grover, Amir Singh Chadha, Mihir Desai; Advocate Vrinda Grover; former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Ramdas; Social activist Anjali Bhardwaj, JNU Professor Deepak Nayyar, political activist Yogendra Yadav, Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha, former Rajya Sabha MP D Raja etc.