In a new twist to the contempt of court proceedings initiated against advocate Prashant Bhushan for his interview in the Tehelka magazine levelling allegations of corruption against sitting judges of the Supreme Court, his father and former Union Law Minister, Shanti Bhushan, on Thursday filed an application alleging that eight of the 16 former Chief Justices of India were corrupt.
A Bench of three Judges, headed by Justice Altamas Kabir, is hearing the suo motu contempt case against Mr. Prashant Bhushan for his interview.
Seeking to implead himself in this case, Mr. Shanti Bhushan alleged in his application that eight of the 16 former CJIs — before Justice K.G. Balakrishnan who retired in May — were corrupt and he provided the eight names to the court in a sealed cover. Since the matter was very sensitive, he wanted the matter to be heard by the Full Court of the Supreme Court by making himself a party.
The application said: “The judiciary has adopted the policy of sweeping all allegations of judicial corruption under the carpet in the belief that such allegations might tarnish the image of the judiciary. It does not realise that this policy has played a big role in increasing judicial corruption. There was a common perception that whenever such efforts were made by anyone, the judiciary tries to target him by the use of the power of contempt.”
