Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was held guilty of
contempt of court for his statement on Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, on Monday, refused to “retract”
his statement and apologise for his two tweets. “If I retract a statement before this court
that I otherwise believe to be true or offer an insincere apology, that in my
eyes would amount to contempt of my conscience and of an institution that I
hold in highest esteem,” Bhushan said.

Bhushan filed a supplementary reply in the suo motu contempt
proceeding before Supreme Court for his tweets against former SC judges.

“I believe that SC is the last bastion of hope for
protection of fundamental rights,” he said

Bhushan said as an
officer of court he believes it is a duty to speak up when he believes there is a
deviation from its sterling record.

“Therefore I expressed
myself in good faith, not to malign the Supreme Court or any particular Chief
Justice, but to offer constructive criticism so that the court can arrest any
drift away from its long-standing role as a guardian of the Constitution and
custodian of peoples’ rights,” he said.

He said, “My tweets
represented this bonafide belief that I continue to hold. Public expression of
these beliefs was I believe, in line with my higher obligations as a citizen
and a loyal officer of this court. Therefore, an apology for expression of
these beliefs, conditional or unconditional, would be insincere.”

Bhushan
further said that an apology cannot be a mere incantation and any apology has
to, as the court has itself put it, be sincerely made.

“This is especially so
when I have made the statements bonafide and pleaded truths with full details,
which have not been dealt with by the Court,” he said.

On August 20, the top
court had granted time till August 24 to Bhushan to reconsider his “defiant
statement” refusing to apologise and tender “unconditional apology” for
contemptuous tweets against the judiciary and rejected his submission that
quantum of punishment be decided by another bench.

The apex court, on
August 14, had held Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt for his two derogatory
tweets against the judiciary saying they cannot be said to be a fair criticism
of the functioning of the judiciary made in the public interest.

He faces imprisonment of up to six months or with a fine of up to Rs 2,000 or with both
as punishment.