NEWS: Kunal Kamra booked for Contempt of Court, AG grants permission

By Legal Wires 6 Minutes Read

Attorney General of India KK Venugopal, today gave consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for his tweets against the Supreme Court and Justice DY Chandrachud.

Stating that the tweets were “not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humor and contempt of the court”, the AG gave consent for prosecution of Mr. Kamra, remarking that the tweets were “highly objectionable” and “constitutes criminal contempt of court.”

The AG while granting his consent letter remarks:

“The picture of the Supreme Court building in saffron colour with the BJP flag is a gross insinuation against the entirety of the Supreme Court of India that the SC 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.”

Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, a Mumbai based lawyer had earlier in his letter to the Attorney General KK Venugopal sought permission to initiate contempt of court proceedings against stand-up comic artist Kunal Kamra under Section 15(1)(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 read with Rule 3 of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975 for his tweets wherein he allegedly ridiculed and criticized Justice D Y Chandrachud and the Supreme Court.

The comments and alleged morphed image posted by Kunal Kamra on his instagram and twitter handle were posted in response to the reportedly rushed and unprecedented immediate enlistment of the bail application of Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami in the ‘Abetment to suicide’ case, wherein the bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud granted him bail reprimanding the Bombay High Court for its high handiness in the case.

The letter mentioned, “In the interest of justice and a vigorous attempt at upholding the dignity and integrity of the Supreme Court of India and the Legal Fraternity on the whole, a humble letter requesting you to initiate “Contempt Proceeding” against a Stand-up Comic Artist named Mr. Kunal Kamra, who through his Tweets on a Judgment passed by the Supreme Court, unsavoury comments on the Hon’ble Justice D.Y Chandrachud and circulation of a morphed image of the Supreme Court premises, published via his verified social media handle on Twitter has made a manifest attempt to lower the authority of the Supreme Court of India.”

The letter to AG stated that Kamra’s tweets on a judgment passed by the Supreme Court, unsavoury comments on the Justice DY Chandrachud and circulation of a morphed image of the Supreme Court premises, published on Twitter amounts to a “manifest attempt to lower the authority of the Supreme Court of India.” He alleges that Mr. Kamra posted them to scandalize the Supreme Court and to create prejudice the mind of millions of people who follow him.

Following are the alleged tweets posted by Kamra:

1. The Supreme Court of this country is the most Supreme joke of this country…

2 .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…

3. 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.

4. All lawyers with a spine must stop the use of the prefix “Hon’ble” while referring to the Supreme Court or its judges. Honour has left the building long back…

Apart, Siddiquee also highlights that Mr. Kamra has tried to outrage the integrity of the Supreme Court by morphing an image of Supreme Court building and giving it an Orange Shade and depicting a BJP flag hoisted in the foyer of the Supreme Court. All the above mentioned tweets has been retweeted by thousands of his followers and other Twitter users.

Legal Wires

Team @LegalWires