On his social media platforms, stand-up comic Kunal Kamra posted that he doesn’t intend to apologise. “I don’t intend to retract my tweets or apologise for them. I believe they speak for themselves,” he says. His statement follows the Attorney General KK Venugopal’s consent to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the comic.
On Wednesday, several lawyers wrote a letter seeking the AG’s permission to commence contempt of court proceedings against Kamra for his tweets condemning the apex court for granting interim bail to Republic TV’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in the 2018 abetment to suicide case.
After the AG granted consent to begin proceedings, Kamra took to social media to make his intention clear. In a tweet, titled, ‘No lawyers, No apology, No fine, No waste of personal space’, Kunal, addressing the AG, said, “All he tweeted was from my view of the Supreme Court giving a partial decision in favour of a prime time loudspeaker.” He adds that his views haven’t changed “because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other’s personal liberties cannot go uncritcised”.
Moreover, Kunal said that he would wish to volunteer his time for the contempt hearing to other matters and parties, “who have not been as lucky and privileged as I am to jump the queue”. He suggested demonetisation petition, petition challenging the revocation of J&K’s special status, the matter of the legality of electoral bonds or countless other matter “that are more deserving of time and attention”. He added, “To slightly misquote Senior Advocate Harish Salve, ‘Will heavens fall if more salient matters are allotted my time?’.”
