The Joint Parliament Committee on the Data Protection Bill on Wednesday questioned social media platform Twitter why it has not taken any action against comedian Kunal Kamra for his tweets against the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde. The panel’s chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi told the media that Twitter has been given seven days to respond to its notice.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi told news agency ANI that Twitter said it cannot take down the contentious tweets without a court order mandating the same. “It is shameful that Twitter is allowing its platform for obscene remarks like the one by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra against the Supreme Court and the CJI,” Lekhi told the media. "Twitter is allowing its platform to be misused for abusing top constitutional authorities, such as Supreme Court and CJI."

Kamra is facing contempt of court proceedings for his tweets about the Supreme Court and the judges of the top court in connection with the Arnab Goswami verdict. After a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee granted Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab interim bail, Kamra had called the Supreme court “the most Supreme joke of this country.”

Several letters had been sent to Attorney General KK Venugopal seeking permission for initiating contempt proceedings against Kamra. The AG has granted assent to eight such letters, observing that Kamra’s tweets are “not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humour and contempt of the Court.”