The Attorney General KK Venugopal Friday once again granted his consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against standup comedian Kunal Kamra for his latest tweet showing his middle finger to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde.
On the 18th of November, Kunal Kamra took to Twitter to yet again prove that Twitter could be the perfect platform for out-of-work woke comedians to get some sort of visibility after the world largely dismissed them as un-funny, raving lunatics.
In his tweet, Kunal Kamra had held up two fingers and said, “One of these 2 fingers is for CJI Arvind Bobde… ok let me not confuse you it’s the middle one”, essentially saying that he was holding a middle finger for CJI Bobde.
One of these 2 fingers is for CJI Arvind Bobde… ok let me not confuse you it’s the middle one
pic.twitter.com/IhoYIP3Ebe
— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) November 18, 2020
Now, AG KK Venugopal has given his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Kamra for this latest tweet of his.
The consent has been given based on a complaint by one advocate Anuj Singh. In his consent, AG KK Venugopal said that the tweet by Kunal Kamra was a deliberate attempt to insult the CJI which would equally be an insult to the judiciary that the CJI heads. Calling the tweet ‘vulgar and obnoxious’, AG said that he was granting consent under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1975 against Kunal Kamra.
[Breaking] AG KK Venugopal Grants Consent To Initiate Contempt Proceedings Against @kunalkamra88 for his NEW TWEET saying
"One of these 2 fingers is for CJI Arvind Bobde… ok let me not confuse you it’s the middle one" pic.twitter.com/QsTS3CDQIr
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 20, 2020
Top Law Officer Allows Contempt Proceedings Against Comedian Kunal Kamra
The said tweet is grossly vulgar and obnoxious, and I have no doubt that it would tend to lower the authority of the Supreme Court of India as well as undermine the confidence that the litigant public have in the institution of the Supreme Court of India itself,” the top law officer said.
“In view of the above, I accordingly grant consent under section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1975,” Mr Venugopal said.
Earlier contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra for other tweets against Supreme Court
Earlier, Attorney General KK Venugopal granted his consent to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Kunal Kamra. A Mumbai based lawyer had sought the Attorney General’s permission to initiate contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra for his tweets against the Supreme Court, after apex court had granted bail to Arnab Goswami.
AG KK Venugopal, granting his consent to initiate proceedings against Kamra said the tweets by Kamra, where he referred to the Supreme Court of India as Supreme Joke India, and said that humour has left the SC long ago, “were highly objectionable.”
In his consent letter, KK Venugopal stated that the other tweets also are highly objectionable and it would perhaps be for the court to decide the question as to whether these tweets also would constitute criminal contempt of the Supreme Court of India.
The AG also referred to one image posted by Kamra where the Supreme Court was shown in saffron colour, and the Indian flag was replaced by the flag of BJP, insinuating that Supreme Court is working under BJP
