Kamra refuses to apologise or retract tweets against Supreme Court

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 13

Standup comedian Kunal Kamra on Friday refused to retract his tweets insinuating the Supreme Court or apologise for them, saying he believed they “speak for themselves” even as several persons filed criminal contempt of court petitions against him.

A day after Attorney General KK Venugopal gave his consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against the comedian for his tweets allegedly scandalising the SC after it gave bail to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in an abetment to suicide case, a defiant Kamra released a statement addressed to Venugopal and the top court judges justifying his controversial tweets.

“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. My view hasn’t changed because the silence of the Supreme Court 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 a statement released on his Twitter page. In his tweets, Kamra had shown the SC in saffron colour with a BJP flag in place of the Tricolour and made nasty comments about a sitting judge.

Kamra said he enjoyed a platform with a captive audience, but a time slot before the SC was a scarce commodity and should go to more pressing issues in front of the nation. He also referred to contempt proceedings against activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who had refused to apologise for his derogatory tweets and was held guilty of contempt.