The Supreme Court on Friday initiated contempt proceedings against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and cartoonist Rachita Taneja for scandalising the court and the highest judiciary with their tweets.
In November, the Attorney General K.K Venugopal had consented to the contempt action against Kunal Kamra for posting tweets and gross images which degraded the Chief Justice of India and in turn resulted in the insult the Supreme Court.
Kunal Kamra had refused to apologise and take down these posts, Instead, he tweeted that he wished to “volunteer” the time that may be allotted for hearing his contempt case.
The AG also found that the images and tweets posted by cartoonist Taneja against the top court’s grant of bail to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, was a scandalous intent to undermine the judiciary.
On Thursday, Bench comprising three-judge Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M.R. Shah heard petitioners seeking contempt action against the duo, after receiving consent from the Attorney General.
Today, the Supreme Court issued a notice, which is returnable in 6 weeks, asking Mr. Kamra and Ms. Taneja to show why they should not be punished for contempt of court.
The court has also exempted them for personal appearance before the court during the hearing.
