Social media must not be curbed: K K Venugopal

Attorney General K K Venugopal on Monday backed the freedom of speech on social media platforms, saying discussions on such platforms cannot be curbed and any move to do so may invite litigation.

Stating that the Supreme Court initiates contempt cases in the rarest of rare cases, Venugopal in an interview to NDTV said, "For a healthy democracy, open discussions on social media should not be curbed. The Supreme Court normally does not react to criticism unless lines are crossed.

Also read — A-G grants consent for contempt against comic artist for tweets

"To curtail this would be unnecessary and the government should not bring any move to curtail this freedom. We need open democracy and open discussions," he added.

The Attorney General said that if something was pointed out, the Supreme Court would "be happy" to deal with it.

Recently, Venugopal had given his nod for initiating criminal contempt of court against comic artist Richa Taneja for her tweets purportedly showing "the Supreme Court was biased towards the ruling party and tailor its judgement to its benefits".

Last month, Venugopal had granted consent for initiating contempt against comedian Kunal Kamra for a fresh "grossly vulgar and obnoxious" tweet against the Chief Justice of India. He had earlier too allowed contempt proceedings against Kamra for other tweets. The A-G's consent is a statutory requirement for filing a contempt petition.