NEW DELHI: Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra submitted a six-page long counter-affidavit to the apex court in response to a notice of contempt by the Supreme Court. In his affidavit, Kamra stated that he meant no disrespect to the court and added that the suggestion that his tweets could shake the foundations of the apex court would be an over-estimation of his abilities.
In his affidavit, which is full of satire, Kamra also alleged that the country is witnessing an assault on the freedom of speech and expression citing the example of fellow comedian Munawar Faruqui who has been under arrest for a month for a joke that he did not even make.
Kamra is facing contempt of court allegations in connection with his series of tweets that he had posted in light of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in a 2018 abetment to suicide case. Supreme Court had issued notice to Kamra on December 18 on petitions filed by SrirangKatneshwar, Skand Bajpai, and Abhyuday Mishra.
Following Kamra’stweets, a number of pleas seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the comic artist were filed. For initiating contempt proceedings against any person, consent of Attorney General or Solicitor General is required. Attorney General K K Venugopal had granted his consent for initiating contempt proceedings against Kamra referring to Kamra’s tweets like “Supreme Court of the Country is the most supreme joke of the country”and “honour has left the building (Supreme Court) long back”. AG also took note of a picture posted by Kamra depicting Supreme Court dressed in saffron color with the ruling party BJP’s flag.
Reacting to Attorney General’s consent, Kamrahad updated on twitter that he had no intention to apologize or retract for his tweets.
The petitions were heard by a three-judge bench comprising of Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice M R Shah on Friday. Petitioner’s advocate appealed that he had received Kamra’s affidavit on Friday morning only and therefore sought an adjournment to peruse the response. The bench allowed the petitioner’s appeal and adjourned the contempt case proceedings for two weeks.
Denying all allegations, Kamra mentioned in his affidavit that some people who did not find his tweets funny have approached the Court seeking him to be prosecuted and punished for criminal contempt of court. He further added that his jokes are based on the issues that are already being discussed in the public domain by more serious commentators. He went on to say that there is no need of defense for jokes.
