NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on August 30 closed the contempt case against advocate Prashant Bhushan in 2009 in connection with an interview with Tehelka magazine, where he said several former chief justices of India were corrupt.

After Tarun Tejpal, the former editor of Tehelka, apologised, a bench made up of Justices Indira Banerjee, Surya Kant, and M.M. Sundresh closed the contempt proceedings against Bhushan.

Bhushan's attorney, Kamini Jaiswal, said that he had provided an explanation for his statement. Tarun Tejpal, editor of Tehelka Magazine, was represented by renowned attorney Kapil Sibal, who asserted that Tejpal has apologised.

The bench declared after hearing arguments that it did not "see it necessary to pursue the matter" in light of the explanations and apologies offered by the contemnors. The court dismissed the contempt charges against Tejpal and Bhushan.

When the hearing for the 2009 case was scheduled for 2020, contempt charges against Bhushan for some tweets were also brought up. In the interview, Bhushan asserted that corruption has affected half of the previous 16 chief justices.

In response to a contempt case from 2009, Bhushan had informed the Supreme Court that merely making a corruption accusation may not constitute contempt of court.

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