On Friday, the Supreme Court will issue its order on a handful of petitions seeking the initiation of contempt of court proceedings against comedian Kunal Kamra for his tweets “mocking” the superior court and especially the Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde and Justice DY Chandrachud. A bench of three judges, consisting of Judge Ashok Bhushan, Judge RS Reddy and Judge MR Shah, had reserved their order on Thursday.
This is all you need to know about the case:
1. The controversy concerns Kamra posting a series of tweets on November 11 after a two-judge tribunal, consisting of Judge Chandrachud and Judge Indira Banerjee, granted a provisional bond to Republic TV’s editor-in-chief, Arnab Goswami, in an alleged complicity in suicide in 2018. case.
Read also | Will Kunal Kamra face contempt for his tweets? Supreme Court to decide tomorrow
2. On the same day, law student Skand Bajpai wrote to Attorney General KK Venugopal, requesting his consent for a contempt process to be brought against Kamra. In a November 12 tweet, Bajpai posted a letter from AG on Twitter, in which Venugopal gave his consent.
3. In the letter, Venugopal wrote that he had reviewed Kamra’s tweets and found that they hinted that “the Supreme Court is not an independent and impartial institution and so are its judges, but, on the other hand, is a party sentencing court. , the BJP. “The innuendo, Venugopal wrote, was” disgusting. “
4. In reaction to this, Kamra refused to apologize. In a statement on Twitter, he said: “The tweets I recently posted have been found in contempt of court. Everything I tweeted was from my point of view that the Supreme Court of India gave a partial decision in favor of a high-ranking speaker. “
5. “My point of view has not changed because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on issues of the personal freedom of others cannot be left without criticism. I do not intend to retract my tweets or apologize for them. I think they speak for themselves, ”Kamra added.
6. Days later, AG Venugopal gave new consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Kamra, this time through a November 18 tweet in which the stand-up comedian allegedly mocked CJI Bobde.
7. A total of eight petitioners, including law students and lawyers, have requested the initiation of contempt proceedings against Kamra in the two cases, according to Bar and Bench.
8. Pursuant to Article 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act 1971, the consent of the AG or the attorney general is required to initiate contempt proceedings against a person.
9. Kunal Kamra is a vocal critic of Arnab Goswami. In January, Kamra engaged Goswami on a flight, after which several airlines, including IndiGo, on whose Mumbai-Lucknow flight the incident took place, banned him.
10. Kamra submitted a motion to the Delhi High Court challenging the flight ban. However, the court refused to consider his statement, disapproving of his behavior on the flight, and noted that such behavior cannot be allowed on an airline.
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