The Updated List of India s Anti-Nationals (According to the Modi Government)
Anyone pointing out the Centreâs shortfalls â farmers, lawyers, journalists, comedians, activists, students â is branded not anti-government but anti-national.
Demonstrators shout slogans behind police barricades during a protest demanding the release of social activists who, according to them, were arrested by the police for supporting farmers protest against farm laws, in New Delhi, India, February 15, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui
Rights19/Feb/2021
Mumbai: It was anybodyâs guess that the Narendra Modi-led government would be intolerant of critical voices. Anyone pointing to the governmentâs shortfalls ought to have been branded anti-government. But the past years saw a decided shift from the âanti- governmentâ perspective to one where anyone critiquing the government was called âanti-nationalâ. And it is not just the usual activists or rational
Supreme Court Weekly Roundup [Jan 25 â Jan 31]
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Top Stories: 1. We Are Concerned About Broadcasts Which Incite Violence : Supreme Court Seeks Clarity From Centre On Powers Under Cable TV Act A Bench led by CJI SA Bobde asked the Central Government about its powers under Cable TV Networks(Regulation) Act 1994 to control broadcast of content (by electronic media), that has a tendency to incite violence. We aren t concerned so.
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New Delhi, January 29
Comedian Kunal Kamra who is facing criminal contempt of court proceedings for “scandalising the judiciary” has defended his controversial tweets, saying if powerful people and institutions continued to show the inability to face rebukes and criticism, “we would be reduced to a country of incarcerated artists.”
In an affidavit filed in response to criminal contempt of court notice issued by the top court, Kamra said, “I believe there is a growing culture of intolerance in the country where taking offence is seen as a fundamental right and is elevated to the status of much loved national indoor sports.”
A file photo of comedian Kunal Kamra. | YouTube
Comedian Kunal Kamra on Friday offered no apology for his tweets criticising the Supreme Court, while responding to the contempt notice issued to him in December,
Live Law reported. Kamra told the court that “jokes need no defence”.
“Jokes are not reality; they are a comedian’s perception,” Kamra said. “Truth about the attention economy is that the more attention one gives to criticism or ridicule, the more credible it appears to be.”
The comedian added: “I do not believe that any high authority, including judges, would find themselves unable to discharge their duties only on account of being the subject of satire or comedy.”
Criticism of courts is growing and everybody is doing it, the Supreme Court said on Friday while giving three weeks to comic artist Rachita Taneja to file her reply on a plea seeking contempt action for her allegedly objectionable tweets against the judiciary. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan was told by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Taneja, that criticism of court can never be contempt. The foundation of court is much stronger, Rohatgi told the bench, also comprising Justices R S Reddy and M R Shah. We agree with you. But it is growing and everybody is doing it, the bench observed.