New Delhi: A day after the Attorney General of India consented to initiating contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra for his tweets, the comedian said that he would neither retract nor apologise for the remarks.
Attorney General K.K. Venugopal Thursday had granted consent to eight people, including lawyers, to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Kamra for his tweets criticising the Supreme Court for fast-tracking the hearing of Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami’s bail appeal.
In an open letter posted on Twitter, Kamra said his view had not changed since the AG’s consent, because the “silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other’s personal liberty cannot go uncriticized”.
No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of space ??? pic.twitter.com/B1U7dkVB1W
— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) November 13, 2020
“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,” Kamra said.
“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,” he added, referring to the SC verdict on the contempt proceedings against lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan in August.
Bhushan was convicted but was asked to pay Re 1 as fine.
Also read: What is an apology? Prashant Bhushan’s contempt case reveals true meaning of the word
‘Hope they can have a small laugh’
In his statement, Kamra also noted that cases related to demonetisation, revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and several others, were “more deserving of time and attention”.
Towards the end of his letter Kamra added that the top court hasn’t declared his tweets as anything yet.
“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,” Kamra wrote.
In a series of tweets Wednesday, Kamra had criticised the top court for fast tracking the hearing of Goswami’s appeal.
AG Venugopal said Thursday the stand up comic’s tweets were not only “objectionable” but also constituted contempt of court.
“This is 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 for the BJP’s benefit. All this in my opinion constitutes criminal contempt of court,” the AG said in his letter to the lawyers.
Also read: Criticism or contempt: Supreme Court eye should be on govt, not Prashant Bhushan’s tweets