Tweets With Cartoons Attached are in Contempt of SC: AG While Grating Consent to Initiate Contempt Proceedings Against Rachita Taneja

AG consents to Contempt of Court proceedings against comic illustrator Rachit Gupta

Attorney General KK Venugopal on Tuesday gave his consent for initiating Contempt of Court proceedings against comic artist Rachita Taneja

The letter was submitted by a law student Aditya Kashyap in view of a Twitter post from a Twitter handle sanitary panels. The controversial tweet had a cartoon depicting the Supreme Court, the BJP and a reporter with the text “Tu Janta Nahi Mera Baap Kaun Hai” and the same was twitted just after Arnab Goswami was granted interim bail by Supreme Court.

Tweets targeted Supreme Court's Ayodhya Verdict and Arnab Goswami's Interim release on bail

Apart from this tweet, the letter had an excerpt of another tweet stating “Let’s not forget how we got here.” This caption was complemented with a caricature that depicts a quid pro quo relationship between the judiciary and the Central government in Ayodhya Judgment verdict.  

Another tweet  read “Arnab gets bail, real journalists get jail, an independent judiciary is fail” from a Twitter handle @sanitary panels which the AG has flagged as contemptuous  

“The tweets and posts mentioned herein and the publication thereof scandalizes the Hon’ble Supreme Court, insinuates and attributes motives behind judgments of the Court. The line between humour and contempt of the Court has also been clearly violated. These posts not only erode the trust in the institution of justice by casting aspersions on the justice delivery mechanism but also interferes with the administration of justice. The tweets and posts are based on the distorted facts, inspired by malice, and amount to committing ‘criminal contempt’.”: the letter states. 

Taneja’s tweets portray that the Supreme Court of India was biased towards the ruling party.”: AG 

In light of the allegations made, AG has said: “Taneja's tweets portray that the Supreme Court of India was biased towards the ruling party." 

And hence while granting consent to the letter by the law student he said “I am satisfied that each of the tweets with cartoons attached is in contempt of the Supreme Court of India”