A joint committee of Parliament for Data Protection, on Thursday, 19 November, asked Twitter why it has not taken action against tweets about the Chief Justice of India by comedian Kunal Kamra, reported ANI.
According to NDTV, Twitter’s policy head Mahima Kaul was grilled by the Joint Committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Meenakshi Lekhi.
Lekhi also informed ANI that Twitter said that Kamra’s post cannot be removed unless the court issues such orders
Further, Lekhi said:
“We’ve asked for an answer in 7 days. Since there are no laws in India regarding these, we have to talk to the top executives of such service providers.”
NDTV reported, citing sources, that both BJP’s Lekhi and Congress’ Vivek Tankha lead the questioning of Twitter for retaining the posts.
Reacting to reports of this development, Kunal Kamra took to Twitter on Thursday to say:
“Personal liberty is like Promotions in corporate India only those who don’t have jokes on the boss get it…(sic)”
Background
Attorney General KK Venugopal, on Thursday, 12 November, gave his consent to initiate criminal contempt of court proceedings against comedian Kunal Kamra for his tweets about the Supreme Court.
Thereby, Kamra, on 13 November, said that he doesn't intend to retract his tweets or apologise for them.
"My view hasn't changed because the silence of the Supreme Court of India on matters of other's personal liberty cannot go uncriticised. I don't intend to retract my tweets or apologise for them. I believe they speak for themselves," he said in a statement posted on Twitter, addressed to the judges and the attorney general.
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