Contempt plea filed against Kunal Kamra
A contempt petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for his tweets against the top court verdict granting bail to journalist Arnab Goswami.
The petition has come a day after Attorney General KK Venugopal on Thursday gave his consent for filing the petition under Rule 3(c) of Rules Regulating Proceedings for Contempt of Supreme Court, 1975.
“The tweets...are not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humour and contempt of the court,” the AG said.
The AG referred to a series of tweets posted by Kamra on Wednesday in which he criticised the top court for granting bail to Goswami and two others in an abetment to suicide case.
“Under the Constitution, the freedom of speech is subject to the law of contempt and I believe that it is time that people understand that attacking the Supreme Court of India unjustifiably and brazenly will attract punishment under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1972,” the AG said.
The petitioners – law students Shrirang Katneshwarkar and
Nitika Duhan, and lawyers Amey Abhay Sirsikar, Abhishek Sharad Raskar and Satyendra Vinayak Muley -- wrote to the AG on Wednesday seeking consent for prosecuting Kamra.
The petition stated, “Petitioners have filed the present Criminal Contempt Petition against the alleged contemnor for scandalizing this Court and further lowering the authority of this Court by publishing tweets on Twitter.com.”
Kamra has refused to apologise or delete his tweets. “My view hasn’t changed because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other’s personal liberty cannot go uncriticized. I don’t intend to retract my tweets or apologise for them. I believe they speak for themselves,” he said.