Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra filed an affidavit in a contempt of court case against him over tweets he made that were critical of the Supreme Court. In the affidavit, which was reported on Friday, Kamra said the public's faith in the judiciary was founded on the "own actions" of the institution and not any commentary about it.
Bar and Bench quoted the affidavit from Kamra as saying, "The suggestion that my tweets can shake the foundations of the most powerful court of the world is an overestimation of my abilities. Just as the Supreme Court values the faith public places in it, it should also trust the public not to form its opinions of the court on the basis of a few jokes on Twitter. The public's faith in judiciary is founded on the institution's own actions and not on any criticism or commentary about it."
Kamra claimed "Jokes need no defence; jokes are not reality; they are a comedian's perception... many people do not react to jokes, which do not make them laugh."
Kamra even claimed if the Supreme Court felt he had crossed the line with his tweets, "then I will write Happy Independence Day post cards every August 15 just like my Kashmiri friends".
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Kamra also alleged there was an "assault on freedom of speech" in India. "We are witnessing an assault on freedom of speech and expression with comedians like Munnawar Faruqui jailed for jokes they have not made and school students being interrogated for sedition. At such a time I hope this Court will display that freedom of speech and expression is a cardinal principle," Bar and Bench quoted his affidavit as saying.
The Supreme Court had initiated contempt proceedings against Kamra and cartoonist Rachita Taneja over controversial tweets in December. On December 18, a bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M.R. Shah had issued notice to Kamra over petitions seeking contempt of court proceedings against him.
Kamra's tweets related to his criticism of the Supreme Court granting bail to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in an abetment of suicide case in November.