Parliamentary panel questions Twitter over Kunal Kamra

New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel has questioned Twitter about tweets by standup comedian Kunal Kamra targeting the Supreme Court and the CJI and has sought a reply from the social media platform within a week.

Panel Chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi said in a tweeet ,"Obscene, no indemnity for such publications."

"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.

Twitter India representatives deposed before the Joint Committee of Parliament on Data Protection Bill on Thursday.

Twitter has also apologised to the House panel in writing for wrongly showing Ladakh in China.

A plea has also been moved in the Supreme Court by a group of lawyers and law students to initiate proceedings against Kamra for scandalising the court though his tweets.

The plea has been moved by law students Shrirang Katneshwarkar, Nitika Duhan, and advocates Amey Abhay Sirsikar, Abhishek Sharan Raskar, and Sattyendra Vinayak Muley. "The alleged contemnor (Kamra) has the following of 1.7 million people. The scandalous tweets of the alleged contemnor were seen by his followers and many of them retweeted the same", said the plea.

Citing Section 2 (c) (i) of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, the petitioners argued that this section is explicit and the tweets published by Kamra clearly show he allegedly committed gross contempt of the apex court.

The plea emphasised that every follower of Kamra on Twitter must have read the tweets and more than one thousand people have retweeted the scandalous tweets.

The petitioners insisted that Kamra was fully aware of his action. "When some persons tried to make the alleged contemnor aware about the contempt of this court, the alleged contemnor was rude, arrogant and unapologetic. The conduct of the alleged contemnor shows that he has no regard for this court", said the plea.