On Monday, the Allahabad High Court refused to interfere in a plea that challenged the magistrate’s order dismissing an application filed seeking FIR against alleged stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for his tweet, which insulted the Indian National Flag. Kamra in November 2020 had tweeted a morphed picture of the Supreme Court and had replaced the Indian Tricolor atop the apex with the flag of a political party.
According to the reports, the petition that was filed by Advocate Saurabh Tiwari stated that Kamra’s actions had hurt the feeling of the people of this country and had caused contempt and disrepute to the Indian National Flag. The Varanasi Court on May 27 filed a case against Kamra for willfully and deliberately replacing the Tricolor hoisted atop the apex court with the flag of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under section 2 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971.
The provisions that were prayed by the petitioner were under section 2 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971, sections 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) of the India Penal Code. However, the criminal provisions were rejected by the CJM Court and the Additional District Judge (ADJ). The petitioner had then moved to the High Court who further refused to interfere in ADJ’s decision.
Judicial Magistrate Richa Sharma has registered the complaint case also under section 200 and has sought the complainant’s affidavit as to whether the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the offence under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act,1971 or not.
Supreme Court initiated contempt of court proceedings against ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra-
Supreme Court in December 2020 had issued a notice to Kunal Kamra seeking contempt proceedings after his contemptuous remarks against the Judiciary in his bid to become a liberal ‘hero’ or a ‘martyr’. In one of his tweets, he had shown CJI Arvind Bobde the middle finger and in another, he had painted the Supreme Court in saffron colour to allege that it had become a puppet of the NDA Government.
In the first tweet, Kamra compared the Supreme Court to a Supreme Joke. In the next tweet, he wrote, “The pace at which the Supreme Court operates in matters of “National Interests” it’s time we replace Mahatma Gandhi’s photo with Harish Salve’s photo.”
In the third tweet, he compared DY Chandrachud to “flight attendant serving champagne to first-class passengers after they’re fast-tracked through, while commoners don’t know if they’ll ever be boarded or seated, let alone served.” In the last tweet, he provoked lawyers to stop using the prefix “Hon’ble” while referring to the Supreme Court or its judges. He said, “Honour has left the building long back.” Kamra had also posted a morphed image of the Supreme Court building giving it an Orange shade with the BJP flag hoisted in the Supreme Court’s entrance.
On the issue of criminal contempt against the ‘comedian’, the Supreme Court issued a notice on January 29 last year. In his response, Kamra had stated that his tweets were not aimed to diminish people’s faith in the judiciary and that there is no defence for jokes and should not be treated as reality.
Other Court cases against Kamra-
Recently, in March this year, advocate Chandni Preeti Vijaykumar Shah had written to the Attorney General for India KK Venugopal seeking to initiate criminal proceedings against the ‘comedian’ under the State Emblem of India (prohibition of improper use) Act, 2005. Kamra had insulted India’s National Emblem by using it in a morphed certificate that shamed the agony of the Kashmiri Pandit genocide and blatantly mocked the film ‘The Kashmir Files’.
I am a person of Law, I shall always abide by it.
— Chandni Preeti Vijaykumar Shah (@adv_chandnishah) March 23, 2022
A letter to the AG for India Shri K.K. Venugopal for initiating criminal proceedings against comedian turned habitual offender Mr. Kunal Kamra under the State Emblem of India (prohibition of improper use) Act, 2005. pic.twitter.com/0UjRyfIwtz
Two lawyers- Advocate Ashutosh Dubey and Advocate Vineet Jindal in the same month further had written to the Attorney General of India, KK Venugopal requesting permission to commence contempt proceedings against the stand-up comedian for vilifying and defaming the Indian judiciary in his recent ‘comedy’ video.
I have requested to Hon’ble Chief Justice Of India and Supreme Court Of India to initiate proceedings against Alleged Comedian “Kunal Kamra” for criminal contempt under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. https://t.co/FGF9tZsDfK pic.twitter.com/boZ6uOTKss
— ADV. ASHUTOSH J. DUBEY 🇮🇳 (@AdvAshutoshBJP) March 5, 2022
Kunal Kamra in one of his videos uploaded on his YouTube channel had made derogatory remarks against the SC. While speaking about the contempt of case filed against him in the top court, Kamra had said, “Dear SC, kal ki baat bhul ja, l**da pakad ke jhul ja (forget yesterday’s talk, come swing on p**is)”. Kamra in the video further had said that he had more respect for the food court in the shopping mall that the apex court and alleged that the SC is a ‘Brahmin Baniya’ affair and it did not represent different cultures.
Also, earlier this month, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had taken action against Kamra who had posted a doctored video of a minor boy singing an Indian patriotic song in Germany. The NCPCR had taken the cognizance of the video in which Kamra had edited a song sung by a 7-year-old boy amid his interaction with PM Modi. The boy had sung the song named ‘Hey Janmabhoomi Bharat’ which was replaced by Kamra with lyrics ‘Mehengayi daayan khaaye jaat hain’. The NCPCR had written to the social media company and had sought immediate removal of the video.
The NCPCR has demanded strict action against the ‘comedian’ who has violated the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The doctored video has, however, been deleted by Kamra.
