"Instead of hearing contempt plea against me, hear challenges to electoral bonds, abrogation of Article 370," Kunal Kamra refuses to apologise

Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra has refused to apologise for his tweets criticising the Supreme Court, commenting in a statement that " silence of the Supreme Court on matters of other's personal liberty cannot go uncriticized ."

. Kamra had posted the controversial tweets in the background of the Supreme Court's decision to grant interim bail to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami in the abetment to suicide case he is implicated in.

. Kamra tweeted a statement on Friday, in response to Attorney General KK Venugopal's decision to grant consent to initiate contempt proceedings against him after at least ten individuals had written to the AG seeking his consent.

In the statement addressed to the Supreme Court judges and the AG, Kamra has suggested that rather than hearing the contempt plea against him, the Apex Court should consider hearing other matters where " parties have not been lucky and privileged " and that he would not " like to jump the queue ."

.[Breaking] Attorney General KK Venugopal gives consent to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Kunal Kamra. "May I suggest the demonetisation petition, the petition challenging the revocation of J&K's special status, the matter of the legality of electoral bonds or countless other matters that are more deserving of time and attention.." Kunal Kamra's statement . " To slightly misquote Senior Advocate Harish Salve, 'Will the heavens fall if more salient matters are allotted my time? '", he has added.

. The comedian has further stated that though the Supreme Court has not held his tweets to be contemptuous yet, he does hope that the judges "have a small laugh " before making their decision.

.Lawyer seeks Attorney General KK Venugopal's consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra. Referring to the Goswami episode, Kamra states that his tweets were his " view on the SC giving a partial decision in favor of a prime time loudspeaker. "

. "I believe I must confess I very much love holding court and enjoying a platform with a captive audience. An audience of the SC judges and the nations top most law officer is perhaps as VIP as audience as it gets. But I realise that more than any entertainment venue I would perform in, a time slot before the Supreme Court is a scarce commodity." Kunal Kamra's statement . AG Venugopal had on Thursday given his consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against Kamra for his tweets criticising the Supreme Court of India.

Venugopal in his consent letter stated that the tweets are " highly objectionable " and in his opinion " constitutes criminal contempt of court ."

The Attorney General maintained that the tweets by Kamra were "not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humor and contempt of the court. "

. The four tweets by Kamra which triggered a flurry of requests to the AG for initiating contempt against him are as follows:

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 also posted a morphed image of the Supreme Court building having an orange shade and depicting a BJP flag hoisted in the foyer.

. The AG received a total 10 letters seeking permission to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Kamra, for which he granted consent for 8 including to law student Skand Bajpai and advocates Shrirang Katneshwarkar and Abhishek Raskar.

On the morphed picture of the Supreme Court posted by Kamra, AG stated that it was to insinuate that the Apex Court was not impartial but rather existed for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The picture of the Supreme Court building in saffron colour with the BJP flag is a gross insinuation against the entirety of the Supreme Court of India that the SC 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," said the AG.

. [Read Kunal Kamra's statement]

"Instead of hearing contempt plea against me, hear challenges to electoral bonds, abrogation of Article 370," Kunal Kamra refuses to apologise

Debayan Roy

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