On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that it will make orders on the contempt statements filed against comedian Kunal Kamra and cartoonist Sanitary Panels, who are facing criminal contempt charges for their tweets against the Supreme Court of India. A bench of judges Ashok Bhushan, RS Reddy and MR Shah
The guilty plea against Kunal Kamra was first brought before a court headed by Judge Ashok Bhushan, who heard submissions from lawyer Nishant R Katneshwarkar, who appeared on behalf of one of the petitioners and claimed that Kamra had posted several scandalous tweets. for the judiciary.
“All these tweets are scandalous and we have requested the consent of the attorney general,” Katneshwarkar told the court. He read the letter from Attorney General KK Venugopal, who had given his consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Kamra. The court asked the lawyer not to read the cartoonist’s alleged derogatory tweets in public hearing, saying that they had already reviewed Venugopal’s letter on the matter.
The consent of the Attorney General or the Attorney General is required under article 15 of the Law of Contempt of Courts 1971 to initiate contempt proceedings against a person.
One of the petitions was filed by law student Shrirang Katneshwarkar, who claimed that Kamra had started tweeting on November 11, when the high court was hearing journalist Arnab Goswami’s appeal against the Bombay High Court order that he rejected. your statement of provisional bond. in a 2018 suicide incitement case. Attorney General KK Venugopal, the following day, agreed to initiate contempt proceedings. On November 20, based on the request of a Prayagraj lawyer, the Attorney General also granted his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra for his November 18 tweet, allegedly against the Chief Justice of India. SA Bobde. AG Venugopal, which called the tweets “extremely vulgar and unpleasant,” said they would tend to “lower the authority of the Supreme Court and undermine the trust that the litigating public has in the institution of the Supreme Court.” Comedian Kunal Kamra refused to retract his tweets or offer an apology.
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Meanwhile, the court also heard the allegation against comic book artist Sanitary Panels for his tweet that was a “bold assault and insult to the institution” of the Supreme Court. The first is a comic from Republic editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, between figures labeled the Supreme Court and the Bharatiya Janata Party, with a speech bubble about Arnab that reads “Tu Janta Nahi Mera Baap Kaun Hai (You don’t know who my father is) “. The attorney general, while granting his consent to the criminal prosecution, had said that his tweets carry a “grave insinuation” against the Supreme Court of India to the effect that it has “ceased to be an impartial body” of the state. “The tweet is clearly calculated to undermine public confidence in the independence and impartiality of the Supreme Court of India,” noted the Attorney General.
The court will also issue guilty plea orders seeking action against her on Friday.
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