Supreme Court decides to proceed with contempt of court case against Kunal Kamra, Rachita Taneja

Supreme Court has decided to go ahead with contempt of court case against stand up comedian Kunal Kamra and cartoonist Rachita Taneja for their tweets allegedly denigrating judiciary and judges.

Issuing notices to Kamra and Taneja, the Supreme Court asked them to file their responses in six weeks.
 

Attorney General KK Venugopal had on November 12 granted consent for initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra, saying the tweets are in bad taste.
 

The Attorney General said that the four tweets by Kamra "clearly crossed the line between humor and contempt of the court."
 

While giving his consent, the Attorney General said it was time that people understand that attacking the Supreme Court brazenly will attract punishment under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

The consent came after various law students and lawyers lodged complaints drawing attention of the law officer to four tweets by Kamra.
 

One of petitions has been filed by law student Shrirang Katneshwarkar and others, who have claimed that Kunal Kamra had started publishing tweets on November 11, when the top court was hearing the appeal of journalist Arnab Goswami against the Bombay High Court's order rejecting his plea seeking interim bail in a 2018 "abetment to suicide" case.
 

The four objectionable tweets were:
 

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