"No Apology, No Fine": Comedian Kunal Kamra Facing Contempt Charge Refuses To Retract Tweets Criticising SC

Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on November 13 said that he would neither retract his tweets criticising the Supreme Court nor apologise for them.

The Mumbai-based comedian faces contempt charges over his tweets criticizing the Supreme Court for granting Republic TV Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami interim bail on November 11.

"My view hasn't changed because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other's personal liberty cannot go uncriticised. I don't intend to retract my tweets or apologise for them. I believe they speak for themselves," Kamra said in the post titled: "No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of space".

The comedian also suggested that the court's time could be better-utilised hearing cases relating to "demonetisation, 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".

Attorney General KK Venugopal, in a letter replying to a lawyer who sought permission to take Kamra to court, said that Kamra had "crossed the line". "It is time that people understand attacking the Supreme Court unjustifiably and brazenly will lead to punishment," Venugopal said.

The Attorney General also said that the comedian's tweets were out of line with "gross insinuation" against the SC and its judges. "Today people boldly and brazenly condemn the Supreme Court and its judges in what they believe is freedom of speech," he said.

Law Student Shirang Katneshwarkar and two lawyers had sought the Attorney General's sanction against Kamra's series of tweets.

Kunal Kamra has put out a series of tweets attacking the Supreme Court granting interim bail to Goswami a week after his arrest over the suicide of an interior designer, Anvay Naik, and his mother in 2018.

Earlier in January this year, Kamra was banned by several airlines after he heckled Arnab Goswami on an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Lucknow.

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