Parliamentary panel grills Twitter over Kunal Kamra' s 'obscene' tweets attacking Supreme Court

A parliamentary committee on Thursday questioned Twitter on stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's "obscene" tweets targeting the integrity of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

The panel's chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi Meenakshi Lekhi said that the committee sought a reply from social media giant over the matter within seven days.

"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 reporters.

She further said that the online platform was being used for 'abusing top constitutional authorities', and when Twitter was asked why it did not ban his tweets, the social media giant representatives allegedly replied that it did receive any court order regarding the matter. In its defense, Twitter representatives further stated that posts are deleted only when 'vulgar terminology' is used.    

"Twitter is allowing its platform to be misused for abusing top constitutional authorities, such as the Supreme Court and CJI. When Twitter was asked what kind of posts are removed, it said that when vulgar terminology is used, such posts are deleted. We then asked why the post of Kunal Kamra was not removed and they said that the court order has not come to us. We asked if they need an order to remove the other posts? We asked what is your authority and sought a reply on this within 7 days," Lekhi said.

Lekhi further said that the explanation that Twitter gave about banning tweets, and handles was not adequate.

She also said that members across the political spectrum like Congress MP Vivek Tankha, BSP MP Ritesh Pandey and BJD MP Bhatruhari Mahtab subjected Twitter representatives to intense grilling over the issue.

It is to be noted that Attorney General KK Venugopal gave his consent to initiate contempt of court proceedings against stand-up comic Kunal Kamra last week. In response, Kamra said that he doesn't intend to retract his tweets or apologise for them.

He tweeted, 'My view hasn't changed because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other's personal liberty cannot go uncriticised. I don't intend to retract my tweets or apologise for them. I believe they speak for themselves.' 

In a statement posted on Twitter, addressed to the judges and the attorney general, Kamra further wrote, 'The tweets I recently put out have been found in contempt of court. All that I tweeted was from my view of the Supreme Court of India giving a partial decision in favour of a Prime Time Loudspeaker.' He added, 'No lawyers, no apology, no fine, no waste of space'.

Kamra had posted his views on Twitter after the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in a 2018 abetment to suicide case.

Kamra further stated, 'The Supreme Court of India hasn't yet declared my tweets anything as of now but if and when they do, I hope they can have a small laugh before declaring them Contempt of Court.' 

Attorney General KK Venugopal, allowing eight people to file criminal contempt cases against Kunal Kamra, said in a letter that he had crossed the line.

Venugopal, in his letter on Thursday, referred to Kamra's tweets as 'highly objectionable' and 'in bad taste'.

'It is time that people understand attacking the Supreme Court unjustifiably and brazenly will lead to punishment,' Mr Venugopal said replying to a lawyer who had asked his sanction to take Mr Kamra to court.

Law Student Shirang Katneshwarkar and two lawyers had written to the Attorney General about the comedian's tweetstorm.

Kamra has been outraging on Twitter over the Supreme Court granting interim bail to Arnab Goswami a week after his arrest over the suicide of an architect, Anvay Naik, and his mother in 2018.