Attorney General grants consent for contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra

Attorney General KK Venugopal on Thursday gave his assent to initiate criminal contempt against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for his alleged derogatory series of tweets against a Supreme Court Judge who ordered Republic Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s immediate bail yesterday, reported ANI.

Earlier, a law student with username @SKandBajpai on twitter and two Maharashtra-based lawyers filed a petition for Venugopal’s consent to initiating proceedings against Kamra.

Kamra had tweeted and posted a picture after a Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud granted bail to Goswami in a case of abetment to suicide. Following are the contemptuous tweets by Kamra:

“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,” Attorney General Venugopal observed.

“Under the constitution, freedom of speech is subject to the law of contempt and i believe that it is time that people understand that attacking the Supreme Court of India unjustifiedly and brazenly will attract punishment under Contempt of Courts Act, 1972,” he added in his letter to the petitioner.