Venugopal says the tweet tends to reduce the authority of the Supreme Court and undermine public trust in it
On Friday, Attorney General KK Venugopal gave his consent to initiate a new contempt action against comedian Kunal Kamra for his “extremely vulgar and disgusting” tweet with a two-finger photograph intended to “deliberately insult” the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India.
Venugopal said the tweet, posted on November 18, tended to reduce the authority of the Supreme Court and undermine public trust in it.
Also read: Parliamentary panel interrogates Twitter about Kunal Kamra’s tweets addressed to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of India
“The representation of the two fingers, with the legend that it refers to the middle one, is to deliberately insult the Chief Justice of India, which would also be an insult to the Supreme Court of India, which is headed by the Chief Justice. Supreme Court, “said the Prosecutor. General reasoned.
The letter of consent under the Contempt of Court Act was in response to a complaint made by lawyer Anuj Singh from Uttar Pradesh.
“The tweet is wildly vulgar and disgusting, and I have no doubt that it would tend to undermine the authority of the Supreme Court, as well as undermine the trust that the litigating public has in the institution of the Supreme Court itself,” said the law. principal. the officer wrote.
This is the second consent granted by Mr. Venugopal to a contempt action against Mr. Kamra in November. The first was for Kamra’s tweets about the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a provisional bond to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.
Kamra had refused to apologize or retract the tweets. Instead, he tweeted that he wanted to “volunteer” the time that can be allotted to him to hear his case of contempt for others “who have not had the luck and privilege to jump the line.”
“May I suggest the demonetization petition, the petition challenging the revocation of J & K’s special status, the issue of the legality of electoral bonds, or myriad other matters that deserve more time and attention,” he wrote in a statement.
Mr. Venugopal had found Mr. Kamra’s tweets, especially the one showing the Supreme Court building transformed into saffron with a BJP flag on top instead of the Tricolor, “highly objectionable”.
The law enforcement officer had said they “clearly crossed the line between humor and contempt of court.”
“I find that today people believe that they can boldly and unabashedly condemn the Supreme Court of India and its judges exercising what they believe to be their freedom of expression. But according to the Constitution, freedom of speech is subject to the contempt law … I think it is time for people to understand that attacking the Supreme Court in an unjustified and brazen manner will attract punishment under the Contempt of Court Law. “, I observe.
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