The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to stand up comedian Kunal Kamra and cartoonist Rachita Taneja on petitions seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against them for allegedly denigrating judiciary and judges.
A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan asked them to file replies in six weeks. The court, however, said there is a need to appear in person before the court.
In the notices, the top court has asked them to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for scandalising the judiciary.
The petitions were filed after attorney General KK Venugopal gave his consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against them.
On November 11, Kamra posted a series of tweets mocking the top court, Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde and justice DY Chandrachud.
In one of his tweets, Kamra showed the Top Court in saffron colour with a BJP flag in place of the Tricolour. “The Supreme Court of this country is the the most Supreme joke of this country,” he tweeted.
Kamra refused to apologise and said “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.”
“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,” he added.
