Don't intend to retract or apologise for tweets: Kunal Kamra on consent for contempt proceedings

NEW DELHI:  Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Friday tweeted an open letter to the Supreme Court saying he did not intend to apologise for his remarks on the apex institution. His tweet came a day after Attorney General K K Venugopal gave consent to initiate contempt proceedings against him.

In a tweet titled ‘No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of space’, Kamra wrote, “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.” Addressing the judges and Venugopal, he said, “The tweets I recently put out have been found in contempt of court.

All that I tweeted was from my view of the Supreme Court of India giving a partial decision in favour of a Prime Time Loudspeaker... 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.”

No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of space pic.twitter.com/B1U7dkVB1W

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) November 13, 2020

​“The SC hasn’t yet declared my tweets anything as of now but if and when they do I hope they can have a small laugh before declaring them contempt of court,” he further read.

A day after the A-G’s sanction, as mandated under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, a fourth-year law student along with four others  moved the SC seeking to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Kamra. 

“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 he does not deserve any sympathy even in case of apology. ...People like the alleged contemnor should not be spared at any cost,” the petition said.