A law student Aditya Kashyap had written to the Attorney General seeking his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against a comic artist named Rachita Taneja for her tweets. Earlier, the Attorney General KK Venugopal had given consent to initiate contempt proceedings against a comedian named Kunal Kamra for his derogatory remarks against the Supreme Court.
The law student had cited certain tweets of the comic artist submitting that the tweets are highly objectionable, mocking not just the Chief Justice but the Judiciary as a whole. Kashyap, had cited three tweets on which the Attorney General agreed and was satisfied stating the tweets were intended to denigrate the Supreme Court of India and lower its authority in public eyes.
The three tweets referred to:
- First tweet related to Arnab Goswami (abetment to suicide case) and it was depicted that the Supreme Court was biased towards the ruling party;
- Second tweet suggesting that the Supreme Court is no longer impartial and is a “Sanghi Court” (An attribution to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh);
- Third tweet referring that there was a bargain in exchange for a Rajya Sabha seat and that because of this reason the Shri Ram Mandir verdict was given favouring the Bhartiya Janta Party.
The AG then added:
“I am satisfied that each one of the tweets with the cartoons attached to them is in contempt of the Supreme Court of India, and hence I give my consent to initiate proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act,1971 in regard to each one of the tweets”.
