When the Attorney General KK Venugopal gave his approval to prosecute the stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and cartoonist Rachita Taneja, one ...
When the Attorney General KK Venugopal gave his approval to prosecute the stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and cartoonist Rachita Taneja, one was left wondering if he had considered all the ramifications of his decision.
Kamra’s tweets and some provocative photos, the Attorney General believed, were worthy of criminal contempt. Since such prosecution requires the Attorney General’s approval, it was his duty to sanction action. He did this same thing on Tuesday, allowing proceedings against Rachita Taneja, the creator of the Sanitary Panels webcomic.
The dignity of the court had to be upheld. The majesty and mystique of the law had to be preserved. These tweets threatened this whole grand structure. And so Kamra and Taneja needed to be taught a lesson. But although these seem like open and shut cases, it is not so straightforward.
Prosecuting a comedian and a cartoonist may in fact achieve the opposite of what is intended. The court may become the butt of many jokes. Courting a jester requires luck. Comedians are subversives. Their jokes are more deadly than a gun. They are philosophers in disguise. The Kamra and Taneja cases raise four issues that we, as a free society, need to think about.
The role of the comic
The first issue is the role of...
