This Article is From Dec 18, 2020

Will Kunal Kamra, Cartoonist Face Contempt? Top Court To Decide Today

Cases have been filed against Kunal Kamra and cartoonist Rachita Taneja for their posts on the Supreme Court.

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India News Edited by

Kunal Kamra has criticised the Supreme Court in his tweets.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court will tomorrow give its decisions on whether stand-up comic Kunal Kamra and cartoonist Rachita Taneja should face contempt proceedings over their criticism of the Supreme Court in tweets and illustrations respectively.

Kunal Kamra faces contempt cases over his tweets attacking at top court for granting TV anchor Arnab Goswami bail after his arrest in an abetment to suicide case. Eight people, mostly lawyers, have filed cases against him.

Earlier this month, KK Venugopal, the government's top law officer, gave consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Ms Taneja for her illustrations against the Supreme Court. The cartoonist had tweeted a series of illustrations, which Mr Venugopal said was "gross insinuation" against the top court of the country and "audacious assault and insult to the institution".

In her tweets, Rachita Taneja made a cartoon on the Supreme Court granting bail to Arnab Goswami. There were other illustrations as well where the top court was mentioned. The nod from the Attorney General came in response to an appeal from a law student.

The consent of either the Attorney General or the Solicitor General is necessary for initiating contempt proceedings against a person.

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Today, a top court bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah noted that the Attorney General given his consent to the petition against the cartoonist.

In a separate hearing of the petitions against Mr Kamra, the same top court bench that heard the case against Ms Taneja said Mr Kamra's tweets should not be read in the court as they have already gone through Mr Venugopal's letter.

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Mr Venugopal had earlier said that Mr Kamra's tweets were "in bad taste" and "crossed the line between humour and contempt".

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