EXPLAINER | Won't Apologise, Tweets Comedian Kunal Kamra On SC Judges' Content Complaint

It all started after Arnab Goswami was granted bail from the Supreme Court in the 2018 suicide abetment case, after which Kamra in a series of tweets, criticised the top court.

(Image: Instagram/ Kunal Kamra)

New Delhi: Attorney General of India K.K. Venugopal on Thursday gave consent to eight persons, including lawyers, to commence contempt of court proceedings against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for his tweets criticising the Supreme Court of India and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. The direction from Venugopal came after the comedian categorically made it clear that he has no intention to retract or apologise for his remarks.  “This is gross insinuation against the entirety of the Supreme Court of India — that the Supreme Court of India is not an independent and impartial institution and so too its judges, but on the other hand is a court of the ruling party, the BJP, existing for the BJP’s benefit. All this in my opinion constitutes criminal contempt of court,” the AG said in his letter to the lawyers. After the orders to initiate the proceedings against the comedian for his alleged remarks on the top court, Kamra shared an open letter through his Twitter handle. The social media post of the comedian titled, “No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of space”, said that the tweets, which have been found to be in bad taste by the attorney general, reflected his view on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami’s bail request.

No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of space 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/B1U7dkVB1W

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) November 13, 2020

“My view hasn’t changed because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other’s personal liberty cannot go uncriticised. I don’t intend to retract my tweets or apologize for them. I believe they speak for themselves,” He also suggested that the court’s time could be better-utilised hearing cases relating to “demonetisation, the petition challenging the revocation of J&K’s special status, the matter of the legality of electoral bonds or countless other matters that are more deserving of time and attention”. The whole incident took place after Goswami was granted bail from the Supreme Court in the 2018 suicide abetment case, after which the stand-up comedian in a series of tweets, criticised the top court for its bail order and fast-tracking the hearing of Goswami’s appeal. The Maharashtra Police on November 4, Arnab Goswami from his Mumbai house in connection with a suicide abetment case of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in 2018. Goswami moved to the top court against the Bombay High Court order that refused him bail as an interim measure. After the Republic TV editor was granted bail and was rallying through the roads of Mumbai on Wednesday, Kamra trended on Twitter after he criticized the Supreme Court for its alleged preferential treatment extended to Goswami. Kamra’s hard-hitting social media posts criticizing the biases of the Supreme Court came hours after senior lawyer Dushyant Dave questioned the integrity of the top court for its preferential treatment of Goswami. Taking to Twitter, Kamra wrote, “The Supreme Court of this country is the most Supreme joke of this country…” In another tweet, the stand-up comedian shared a morphed photo of India’s Supreme Court whereby it was painted in saffron color with the BJP’s flag flying on top. He wrote, “Contempt of court it seems.” The stand-up comedian didn’t stop here. He even wrote that “the pace at which the Supreme Court operates in matters of “National Interests” it’s time we replace Mahatma Gandhi’s photo with Harish Salve’s photo.”  Salve has been representing Goswami for several months in multiple cases filed against him by the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Police. Kamra in another tweet targeting Supreme Court Judge Justice Chandrachud wrote, “DY Chandrachud is a flight attendant serving champagne to first-class passengers after they’re fast-tracked through, while commoners don’t know if they’ll ever be boarded or seated, let alone served. *Justice*”. Borrowing a line from Justice Chandrachud during the bail plea hearing, Kamra wrote, “If you don’t like my contempt of court don’t see it. Taking inspiration from the Supreme Court.” Justice Chandrachud had said that people didn’t like Goswami’s TV broadcast, they had the option of not watching his TV channel. Though the AG has given orders to commence against Kamra in the contempt of court case, the Supreme Court hasn’t yet taken up the requests to initiate contempt of court proceedings.