Comedian Kamra refuses to apologise for tweet against Supreme Court

Stand up comedian Kunal Kamra has refused to tender an apology for his tweet against the top court for which a contempt notice was issued against him. In his affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court on Friday, Kamra said, "Public's faith in the judiciary is founded on its own actions, not on criticism about it."

Kamra also told the top court that suggesting that his tweets/ jokes could shake the foundations of the most powerful court in the world is an over-estimation of his abilities.

He said "irreverence and hyperbole" are essential tools for the comedic enterprise and a comic raises questions on issues of public interest in his own unique way. "We would be reduced to a country of incarcerated artists and flourishing lapdogs" if powerful people and institutions continue to show an inability to tolerate rebuke or criticism, he said.

Kamra, who filed his reply affidavit in a plea seeking contempt action against him for the alleged scandalous tweets said, "I may disagree with many decisions by many courts in many matters, but I promise this bench that I will respect any decision that comes my way with a broad smile. I will not vilify this bench or the Supreme Court in this matter specifically because that would actually be contempt of court.

"Should powerful people and institutions continue to show an inability to tolerate rebuke or criticism, we would be reduced to a country of incarcerated artists and flourishing lapdogs. If this court believes I have crossed a line and wants to shut down my internet indefinitely, then I too will write Happy Independence Day postcards every 15th August, just like my Kashmiri friends,' he said.

The comedian said that he believes that there is growing culture in intolerance in this country, where taking offence is seen as a fundamental right and has been elevated to the status of a much loved national indoor sport. "We are witnessing an assault on the freedom of speech and expression, with comedians like Munawar Farooqi being jailed for jokes that they have not been made, and school students being interrogated for sedition.

At such a time, I hope that this court will demonstrate that the freedom of speech and expression is cardinal constitutional value, and recognise that the possibility of being offended is a necessary incident to the exercise of this right," he said. "The Language and style I resort to are not with the intention to insult, but to draw attention to and prompt an engagement with issues that I believe are relevant to our democracy and which have also been raised in the public domain by more serious and learned commentators," he said.

Kamra further said he believes that constitutional offices -- including judicial offices -- know no protection from jokes. "I do not believe that any high authority, including judges, would find themselves unable to discharge their duties only on account of being the subject of satire or comedy," he said.

Defending his tweets he said, that they were not published with "the intention to diminish the faith of the people in the highest court of our democracy".

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court observed that criticism of courts is growing and everybody is now doing it now, while giving three weeks to cartoonist Rachit Taneja to file her reply on the plea seeking contempt action for her alleged scandalous tweets against the judiciary.