Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra is a haughty man “puffed up with conceit” who wants to justify his “scandalous tweets” about the Supreme Court as “jokes”, law student Shrirang Katneshwarkar told the Supreme Court in an affidavit.
Mr. Kamra is facing criminal contempt proceedings in the apex court on a plea filed by the student.
In his response to the contempt petition, Mr. Kamra had said the Supreme Court should trust the public not to form opinions on the basis of a few jokes cracked by him on Twitter. Mr. Kamra said “taking offence” to comedy or satire had become a much-loved indoor sport in a growing culture of intolerance. He had refused to apologise or retract his tweets.
Countering in his rejoinder affidavit, Mr. Katneshwarkar said, “...he (Kamra) says the tweets were funny. An ordinary prudent man can gather they are obnoxious.”
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The law student said Mr. Kamra has forgotten in his “hubris” as an “alleged/so-called” comedian that jokes are meant to cause amusement or laughter.
A joke is a story with a punchline, Mr. Katneshwarkar noted.
He quoted Socrates that “when the debate is lost, scandal becomes the tool of the loser” to push his point across.
The law student, represented by advocate Nishant R. Katneshwarkar, called Mr. Kamra a “keyboard warrior” with a huge fan-following on Twitter.
“A keyboard warrior like Mr. Kamra can indeed influence the minds of some of his huge followers on Twitter... Can inculcate poisonous ideas in the minds of the people,” Mr. Katneshwarkar warned.
He said the comedian’s response to the court’s show cause notice was only a “feeble attempt to brand his tweets as jokes”.
“Comedy means professional entertainment consisting of jokes and sketches, intended to make the audience laugh. Satire means the use of humour or irony to expose and criticise people’s stupidity in the context of political or other issues... No man can take advantage of his wrong. He (Kamra) cannot justify his scandalous tweets as jokes,” the law student argued.
