Kunal Kamra National Flag case: Varanasi court rejects revision plea against Magistrate order

A Varanasi court has rejected the revision petition filed against a magistrate order refusing to take action against comedian Kunal Kamra for allegedly insulting the Indian Flag (Saurabh Tiwari v. State of Uttar Pradesh).

. Additional District Judge of the Fast Track Court at Varanasi Anuradha Kushwaha dismissed the petition and upheld the order of the magistrate court which had rejected a plea to take action against Kamra for want of jurisdiction.

"The Criminal Revision is dismissed. The order in question dated 23.12.2020 passed by the subordinate court is confirmed," the order passed today stated.

. Accordingly, the criminal revision was dismissed and the order passed by Diwakar (Judicial Magistrate-I) Varanasi was upheld.

. The criminal revision was filed by Advocate Saurabh Tiwari, who had also sought consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Kamra for his tweet, but the same was rejected by Attorney General KK Venugopal in order to avoid multiplicity of proceedings.

The AG had in November last year given his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against the comedian, stating that the tweets were "not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humor and contempt of the court."

. Tiwari had contended that Kamra’s tweet hurt the feelings of the people of this country and caused “contempt and disrepute” to the Indian National Flag. On the basis of the complaint, a First Information Report was sought to be registered under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and Sections 153B & 505 of the Indian Penal Code.

. Kamra had tweeted a picture of a morphed, saffron-coloured Supreme Court of India, replacing the National Flag with the flag of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had also posted the following tweets:

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, who is facing a contempt of court case in Supreme Court, stated on affidavit that public's faith in the judiciary is founded on the institution's own actions and not on any criticism or commentary about it.

"The suggestion that my tweets can shake the foundations of the most powerful Court of the world is an overestimation of my abilities. Just as the Supreme Court values the faith public places in it, it should also trust the public not to form its opinions of the Court on the basis of a few jokes on Twitter. The public's faith in judiciary is founded on the institution's own actions and not on any criticism or commentary about it," the affidavit filed by Kamra said.

.[BREAKING] "Public's faith in judiciary is founded on its own actions, not on criticism about it:" Kunal Kamra refuses to apologise for contempt. [Read order]

Kunal Kamra National Flag case: Varanasi court rejects revision plea against Magistrate order

Areeb Uddin Ahmed

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