New Delhi: Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, facing contempt of court charges for tweets against judges and judiciary on Friday submitted his reply in the Supreme Court.
In his affidavit, Kamra said that his “tweets were not published with intention of diminishing people’s faith in the highest court of our democracy”.
If the court believes he has crossed the line and wants to shut down his internet indefinitely, then he too “will write Happy Independence Day post cards every 15th August, just like my Kashmiri friends”.
“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 submitted 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 post cards every 15th August, just like my Kashmiri friends,’ 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”.
He said the suggestion that the tweets could shake the foundation of the most powerful court in the world is an over-estimation of his abilities. Kamra said that jokes are based on a comedian’s perception, which they use to make the audience that shares that perception laugh.
“Most people do not react to jokes that don’t make them laugh; they ignore them like our political leaders ignore their critics. That is where the like of joke must end. The truth about the attention economy is that the more attention one gives to criticism or ridicule, the more credible it appears to be,” he said.
The Apex court, on December 18 had issued show-cause notice to Kamra for his alleged scandalous tweets against the apex court and exempted him from personal appearances.
