Contempt of Court Plea: Won’t Retract Tweets, Won’t Apologise, Says Comedian Kunal Kamra

New Delhi: Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Friday said he will not apologise, neither pay fine, nor retract his tweets related to the Supreme Court fast-tracking hearing on interim bail to Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami while being silent “on matters of other’s personal liberty.”

“I don't intend to retract my tweets or apologise for them. I believe they speak for themselves. I wish to volunteer having the time that would be allotted to the hearing of my contempt petition (20 hours at the very least, if Prashant Bhushan's hearing is anything to go by), to other matters and parties who have not been as lucky and privileged as I am to jump the queue,” Kamra wrote in a statement addressed to the Supreme Court and the Attorney General KK Venugopal. He was responding to reports that the AG had decided to grant consent for contempt proceedings against him on the basis of eight individuals seeking consent for the same.

No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of space ??? pic.twitter.com/B1U7dkVB1W

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) November 13, 2020

According to reports, Venugopal, while granting consent, asserted that freedom of speech and expression is not absolute, but is subject to the law of contempt.

“I find that today people believe that they can boldly and brazenly condemn the Supreme Court of India and its judges by exercising what they believe is their freedom of speech,” he said.

Venugopal’s letter further stated: “…I believe that it is time that people understand that attacking the Supreme Court of India brazenly will attract punishment under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.”

After the SC granted interim bail to Goswami in an abetment to suicide case, Kamra had posted some critical tweets, flaying the apex court for fast-tracking the hearing of the TV anchor’s case.

In Friday’s statement, stood his ground and also suggested that several important long-pending petitions demanded more attention from the courts.

“May I suggest the demonetisation petition, the petition challenging the revocation of J&K's special status, the matter of the legality of electoral bonds or countless other matters that are more deserving of time and attention. To slightly misquote Senior Advocate Harish Salve “Will the heavens fall if more salient matters are allotted my time?” he wrote.

The comedian also wrote that the thought the Supreme Court had not held his tweets to be contemptuous yet, he hoped that the judges "have a small laugh" before making their decision.

According to Bar & Bench, The four tweets by Kamra that led requests to the AG for initiating contempt against him are as follows:

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...

Kamra also posted a morphed image of the Supreme Court building having an orange shade and depicting a BJP flag hoisted in the foyer, said the B&B report. 

Read Kunal Kamra’s full statement below:

No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of space 

Dear Judges, Mr KK Venugopal,

The tweets I recently put out have been found in contempt of court. All that I tweeted was from my view of the Supreme Court of India giving a partial decision in favour of a Prime Time Loudspeaker. I believe I must confess I very much love holding court and enjoying a platform with a captive audience. An audience of Supreme Court judges and the nation's top most law officer is perhaps as VIP an audience as it gets. But I realise that more than any entertainment venue I would perform in, a time slot before the Supreme Court is a scarce commodity.

My view hasn’t changed because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other’s personal liberty cannot go uncriticized. I don't intend to retract my tweets or apologise for them. I believe they speak for themselves. I wish to volunteer having the time that would be alloted to the hearing of my contempt petition (20 hours at the very least, if Prashant Bhushan's hearing is anything to go by), to other matters and parties who have not been as lucky and privileged as I am to jump the queue. May I suggest the demonetisation petition, the petition challenging the revocation of J&K's special status, the matter of the legality of electoral bonds or countless other matters that are more deserving of time and attention. To slightly misquote Senior Advocate Harish Salve “Will the heavens fall if more salient matters are allotted my time?”.

The Supreme Court of India hasn’t yet declared my tweets anything as of now but if and when they do I hope they can have a small laugh before declaring them Contempt of Court. Also in one of my tweets I had asked for replacement of the photo of Mahatma Gandhi at the Supreme Court of India with that of Harish Salve. I would like to add that Pandit Nehru photo should also be replaced with Mahesh Jethmalani.

#Kunal Kamra