In a rejoinder submitted before the Supreme Court in the contempt of court case against comedian Kunal Kamra, the petitioner, a law student, has argued that Kunal’s “scandalous” tweets cannot be viewed as “jokes”. Shrirang Katneshwarkar, a 22-year-old law student from Aurangabad who is among the petitioners in the contempt case against Kunal, was responding to the comedian’s affidavit in the Supreme Court. Kanteshwar said that Kunal has not shown any remorse from his end, nor has he given any apology.
Kunal Kamra is facing contempt of court proceedings after he posted an edited photo of the Supreme Court, coloured in saffron hue, with a flag of the BJP hoisted on it. This happened after Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami got bail in the TRP scam case. Kamra had called the Supreme Court the “most supreme joke,” and in another tweet, said, “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.”
He also compared Justice DY Chandrachud — who was a part of the division bench that passed the order in the Goswami case — to “a 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 (sic).”
In his rejoinder, Kanteshwar said that an ‘ordinary prudent’ man can gather from Kunal’s tweets that the tweets were “obnoxious” and had undermined the dignity of the top court. He also contested Kunal’s statement that his tweets may not shake people’s faith in the Supreme Court. “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,” Kunal had told the court in his affidavit.
However, Kanteshwar has argued that “keyboard warriors” such as the comedian can influence the mind of at least some of his 1.7 million followers. “One cannot deny that keyboard warriors like the alleged contemnor can influence the minds of his followers thereby creating a chain reaction,” the rejoinder stated. Kanteshwar added that those like Kunal could also inculcate ‘poisonous ideas’ in the minds of the public.
The law student also said in his rejoinder that by stating that the petitioner does not have a “sense of humour”, Kunal has demonstrated the acrimony of his mind, should introspect and change his “malevolent attitude”, Livelaw reported. Kanteshwar also labelled Kunal’s affidavit “brazen aggravated contempt”.