New Delhi: A parliamentary committee questioned representatives of social media giant Twitter on stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s recent ‘obscene’ tweets. Kunal Kamra’s tweets have targeted the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India. The panel sought a reply from Twitter within seven days, chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi said Thursday.
This development came close on the heels of Twitter apologising in writing to the same panel for wrongly showing Ladakh in China. The company has promised to correct the error by the month-end.
Twitter India representatives deposed Thursday before the Joint Committee of Parliament on Data Protection Bill.
“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 here. “Twitter is allowing its platform to be misused for abusing top constitutional authorities, such as Supreme Court and CJI,” she added.
Lekhi said members of the committee across political spectrum, including Congress MP Vivek Tankha, BSP MP Ritesh Pandey and BJD MP Bhatruhari Mahtab, grilled Twitter representatives on this issue. She also said that explanation of Twitter about banning handles and tweets was found to be inadequate.
Meanwhile, Kamra has refused to retract his controversial tweets against the Supreme Court or apologise for them. He said he believes they ‘speak for themselves’.
Earlier, Attorney General KK Venugopal consented to the initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Kamra. The series of tweets followed the apex court giving interim bail to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami.