'Don't Intend To Retract My Tweets Or Apologize', Kunal Kamra Responds To AG's Consent For Contempt Against Him

Comedian Kunal Kamra on Friday said that he does not intend to retract his tweets or apologize for them after the Attorney General of India granted nod to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against him for the comments made by him about the Supreme Court in the wake of interim bail granted to Arnab Goswami."My view hasn't changed because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other's personal liberty cannot go uncriticised. I don't intend to retract my tweets or apologize for them. I believe they speak for themselves," he said in a statement posted on Twitter, addressed to the judges and the attorney general.He added that the "silence of the SupremeCourt on matters of other's personal liberty cannot go uncriticized".In the statement published through Twitter, Kamra suggested that the time required for the contempt hearing against him may be spent on other important pending matters such as "demonetization petition, a petition challenging the revocation of J&K's special status, the matter of the legality of electoral bonds or countless other matters that are deserving of more time and attention".'Will not retract my tweets or apologize', says comedian Kunal Kamra, after the Attorney General granted nod to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against him for his tweets about the Supreme Court in the wake of interim bail granted to #ArnabGowswami pic.twitter.com/O7PnU1v1AP— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 13, 2020 It was on Thursday that the Attorney General granted consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra.Finding Kamra's tweet to be highly objectionable, the AG granted his consent under Section 15(1)(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 to initiate criminal contempt. He said, "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. But under the Constitution, the 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 the Contempt of Courts Act, 1972."The AG's letter referred to Kamra's comments such as 'honour has left the building(Supreme Court) long back' and 'Supreme Court of the country is the most Supreme joke of the country'. The AG also noted that apart from these comments, Kamra posted a picture of the Supreme Court dressed in saffron colour with the flag of the ruling party, the BJP.Taking strong exception to this tweet, the AG commented:"This is a gross insinuation against the entirety of the Supreme Court of India that the Supreme Court of India 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 only for the BJP's benefit".Kamra had made a series of tweets regarding the Supreme Court and initiation of contempt against him has been sought for 4 of his tweets posted in the wake of the Supreme Court granting interim bail to Arnab Goswami.Complaining against the same, several letter petitions were sent to the AG by law students and lawyers stating that the tweets and publications scandalize the Supreme Court and prejudice the minds of millions of people."During the course of the proceedings and also subsequent to the verdict, Mr. Kunal Kamra a stand-up comedian by profession through his Twitter handle having 1.7 million followers @kunalkamra88 published a series of tweets to scandalizes SC", one of the letter read."If this kind of unruly and salacious statements are allowed to go unchecked, influencers having millions of social media followers would start making reckless allegations and diabolical statements against the judges," another letter said.

'Don't Intend To Retract My Tweets Or Apologize', Kunal Kamra Responds To AG's Consent For Contempt Against Him

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