Chief Justice Dipak Misra rejected a senior lawyer's suggestion to bar the media from reporting the courtroom drama on Friday, where a sea of lawyers reacted angrily to advocate Prashant Bhushan's unsubstantiated allegations against the CJI and sought contempt of court proceedings against him.

The CJI said, "I believe, all of us believe, in the freedom of press. I am always in support of freedom of speech and expression and the right of media to report proceedings accurately. I do not favour restraining the press in any matter. A similar prayer was made before me when I was a judge of Madhya Pradesh high court during the hearing of a very sensitive matter. I had outright refused to restrain the media from reporting the proceedings. Press must have its freedom."

Members of the five-judge bench, especially Justice Arun Mishra, told Bhushan that he had made unsubstantiated allegations for which he was liable for contempt of court proceedings.