SC decision on contempt proceedings against Kamra on Friday

The Supreme Court will pronounce its order on Friday on a batch of petitions seeking initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against stand-up comic artist Kunal Kamra for his alleged scandalous tweets against the apex court.

The SC would also pronounce its order on Friday on a plea seeking initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against comic artist Rachita Taneja for her alleged objectionable tweets against the apex court.

The pleas against Kamra came up for hearing on Thursday before a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan which heard the submissions of advocate Nishant R Katneshwarkar, who appeared for one of the petitioners, and claimed that Kamra had posted several tweets scandalous to the judiciary.

"All these tweets are scandalous and we had sought consent from the attorney general," Katneshwarkar told the bench, which also comprised justices R S Reddy and M R Shah.

He read out the letter of Attorney General K K Venugopal, who had granted consent for initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Kamra.

The bench asked the lawyer not to read the alleged contemptuous tweets of the comic artist in the court, saying they have already gone through Venugopal's letter on the issue.

The consent of either the attorney general or the solicitor general is necessary under section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 for initiating contempt proceedings against a person.

The attorney general had granted consent for initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Kamra, saying the tweets are in 'bad taste' and it is time that people understand that attacking the apex court brazenly will attract punishment under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1972.

One of petitions has been filed by law student Shrirang Katneshwarkar and others, who have claimed that Kamra had started publishing tweets on November 11, when the top court was hearing the appeal of journalist Arnab Goswami against the Bombay high court's order rejecting his plea seeking interim bail in a 2018 abetment to suicide case.

The plea has alleged that after the top court granted interim bail to Goswami on November 11, Kamra 'again published various tweets and thereby scandalised' the apex court and 'further lowered' its authority.

'The alleged contemnor (Kamra) has the following of 1.7 million people. The scandalous tweets of the alleged contemnor were seen by his followers and many of them retweeted the same,' the plea has claimed.

It has alleged that when some persons tried to make Kamra aware about the contempt of court, he was 'rude, arrogant and unapologetic' and his conduct shows that he has 'no regard' for the top court.

The plea has alleged that his tweets are in 'such bad taste' that an ordinary prudent man can gather that he has scandalised the apex court.

'The citizens of India have highest regard to the courts of law. No law abiding citizen of this country would tolerate such act of publication of tweets by the alleged contemnor (Kamra),' it said.

'This court, by showing magnanimity and grace had let off the contemnors in the past upon tendering apology.

'But the conduct of the alleged contemnor is so harsh that the alleged contemnor does not deserve any sympathy at the hands of this court even in case of tendering apology.

'Citizens of this country strongly believe that the people like the alleged contemnor should not be spared at any cost,' it said.

Venugopal had granted consent for initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Kamra for his tweets and said that today people believe that they can 'boldly and brazenly condemn' the Supreme Court of India and its judges by exercising their freedom of speech, but under the Constitution, the freedom of speech is subject to the law of contempt.

'I have gone through each one of the tweets which you have annexed for consent to proceed by way of criminal contempt against Kunal Kamra.

'The tweets which I am extracting below are not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humour and contempt of the court,' the attorney general had said in his letter to one of the applicants who had sought his consent for initiation of contempt proceedings against Kamra.

The bench on Thursday also took note of the fact that Venugopal has consented to the plea filed by law student Aditya Kashyap against comic artist Rachita Taneja.

In the proceeding conducted via video conferencing, the top court was told by senior advocate P S Narasimha that the tweets have no iota of discussion on the merits of the case itself but is intended to scandalise the court.

"We have the clear opinion of the attorney general where he is of the view that a prima facie contempt is made out," the senior lawyer said.

The attorney general has opined that the tweets are 'deliberately intended to shake the confidence of the public in the judiciary', Narasimha and advocate Namit Saxena submitted.

The top court would now pronounce the order on Friday whether to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Taneja.

Venugopal, in his consent letter to Kashyap for initiating criminal contempt proceedings against Taneja, said, 'I am satisfied that each one of the tweets with the cartoons attached to them is in contempt of the Supreme Court of India, and hence I give my consent to initiate proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 in regard to each one of the tweets.'

Kashyap had filed the petition through lawyer Namit Saxena, who is an advocate-on-record, on December 5 after receiving the written consent of the attorney general for initiation of proceedings against her for three posts with images which are allegedly outrageous, contemptuous, carry insinuations and deliberately attribute motives to judges of Supreme Court and their judgments.

Taneja's posts, the petition said, have gone viral and have been widely shared and subscribed by people attacking the institution of judiciary.

Taneja, being a social media influencer, has thousands of followers across various platforms, it said.

The attorney general in his written consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings, had stated that these posts are intended to denigrate the Supreme Court and lower its authority in the eyes of the public, and thus the cartoons were in contempt of the top court.

The consent of either the attorney general or the solicitor general is necessary, under section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, for initiating contempt proceedings against a person.

Criminal contempt of the Supreme Court is punishable with fine up to Rs 2,000 and imprisonment up to six months.

In the petition, details of the three posts and images which are allegedly derogatory and contemptuous have been mentioned.

The plea has sought direction that Taneja be restrained from publishing contemptuous posts on social media which scandalise and undermine the authority of the apex court.

The petitioner said the plea highlight three particularly outrageous and contemptuous posts that were crafted, posted and shared by Taneja through her social media handles (@sanitarypanels) on various platforms with the malicious intent of scandalising and lowering the authority of the apex court and to prejudice and interfere with the due course of judicial proceedings.

Kashyap is pursuing LLB at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law in Patiala, Punjab.