SC sends notice to Kumal Kamra, Rachita Taneja in contempt case

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and another comic artist Rachita Taneja on a batch of petitions seeking contempt action against them for "scandalising the court and lowering its authority by publishing tweets".

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah sought a reply from both the artists within six weeks.

The court clarified that both the artists were not required to be present personally before it.

In its written order, the court noted that the Attorney General has given consent for initiating contempt on a request made by petitioners law students and advocate Abhyudaya Mishra, Shrirang Katneshwarkar, Skand Bajpai filed contempt petitions against Kamra. Similarly a law student, Aditya Kashyap took a nod from the Attorney General on December 1 before filing his contempt petition against Taneja.

A consent from the Attorney General or the Solicitor General is statutory requirement for contempt proceedings in the top court.

On Thursday, the court had reserved its order after hearing the counsel from the petitioners.

Kamra had posted "objectionable tweets" against the Supreme Court and its judges, including Justice D Y Chandrachud for taking up bail plea by Republic TV's Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on November 11.

Likewise, following the top court's order granting bail to Goswami, Taneja through a Twitter handle @sanitarypanels posted a number of tweets including one in which she described the Supreme Court in an apparently derogatory manner.

Another tweet posted by her in August alleged to quid pro quo due to nomination of former CJI Ranjan Gogoi to Rajya Sabha and the Ayodhya case judgement by a five-judge bench in November, 2019.