The plea contended that the AG by reproducing the tweets observed that the tweets are not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humour and contempt of the court
Supreme Court
After the Attorney General K.K. Venugopal gave consent to initiate contempt against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, a plea has been moved in the Supreme Court by a group of lawyers and law students to initiate proceedings against Kamra for scandalising the court though his tweets.
The plea has been moved by law students Shrirang Katneshwarkar, Nitika Duhan, and advocates Amey Abhay Sirsikar, Abhishek Sharan Raskar, and Sattyendra Vinayak Muley. "The alleged contemnor (Kamra) has the following of 1.7 million people. The scandalous tweets of the alleged contemnor were seen by his followers and many of them retweeted the same", said the plea.
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Citing Section 2 (c) (i) of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, the petitioners argued that this section is explicit and the tweets published by Kamra clearly show he allegedly committed gross contempt of the apex court.
The plea emphasised that every follower of Kamra on Twitter must have read the tweets and more than one thousand people have retweeted the scandalous tweets. The petitioners insisted that Kamra was fully aware of his action. "When some persons tried to make the alleged contemnor aware about the contempt of this court, the alleged contemnor was rude, arrogant and unapologetic. The conduct of the alleged contemnor shows that he has no regard for this court", said the plea.
The plea contended that the AG by reproducing the tweets observed that the tweets are not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humour and contempt of the court.
The petitioners said though the Supreme Court has let off contemnors in the past upon tendering apology, but this case is different. "The conduct of the alleged contemnor is so harsh that the alleged contemnor does not deserve any sympathy at the hands of this court even in case of tendering apology. Citizens of this country strongly believe that the people like the alleged contemnor should not be spared at any cost", said the plea seeking action against Kamra.
On Thursday, the AG, in a response to the letters of the petitioners in the matter, had said that it is time that people understand that attacking the Supreme Court unjustifiably and brazenly will attract punishment.
The observation was made by the AG while granting consent to initiate contempt proceeding against stand-up comic Kunal Kamra for his tweets against Supreme Court for granting bail to Republic TV Editor in Chief Arnab Goswami in a 2018 abetment to suicide case.
"I find that today people believe that they can boldly and brazenly condemn the Supreme Court of India and its judges by exercising what they believe is their freedom of speech," Venugopal said. A contemnor can be punished with simple imprisonment of up to six months or with a fine of up to Rs 2,000 or both.
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