The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to Kunal Kamra and Rachita Taneja on plea seeking contempt of court action against them for tweets against the court and judges. They don’t have to appear in person.
On Thursday, a three-judge bench, comprising justices Ashok Bhushan, R S Reddy and M R Shah, heard the submissions of advocate Nishant R Katneshwarkar, who appeared for one of the petitioners and claimed that Kamra had posted several tweets scandalous to the judiciary, reported PTI. “All these tweets are scandalous and we had sought consent from the attorney general,” PTI quoted Katneshwarkar as saying in court.
He read out the letter of Attorney General K K Venugopal, who had granted consent for initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Kamra. The bench asked the lawyer not to read the alleged contemptuous tweets by Kamra in the open court, saying they have already gone through Venugopal’s letter on the issue.
The same bench also took note of the fact that Attorney General K K Venugopal has consented to the plea filed by law student Aditya Kashyap against the Rachita Taneja. In the proceeding via video conferencing, senior advocate P S Narasimha told the court that the tweets do not discuss any the merits of the case itself but is intended to scandalise the court. We have the clear opinion of the Attorney General where he is of the view that a prima facie contempt is made out, the lawyer said.
