[Crisis of credibility.
To be tackled by wielding a spiked club.
Would trigger only further erosion.
Just the other day, the US Supreme Court simply threw out a bid, openly backed by the incumbent President, to reverse the outcome of the presidential poll, there.
That's how credibility is earned.
In India, not a single important case, since the days of Gogoi, has gone against the Union Government.
Urgent cases, of immense importance, have been put in the backburner, turning many of these virtually infructuous - like the one relating to Article 370.
The only exception - to a very moderate extent, is the case of relief to migrant workers hugely suffering on account of a brutal lockdown imposed nationwide, with less than 4 hours notice.
That too - after initial refusal, being forced by the directives being issued by a few High Courts.
Conceivably, to stop them from acting on their own.
Quite naturally, the credibility has nosedived.
A spiked club can't help.
Actions speak, even if others are muted.
Btw, one of the illustrations by Taneja, reportedly, presents a "Sanghi Court of India".]
https://www.thequint.com/news/india/sc-orders-verdict-in-contempt-cases-on-kunal-kamra-rachita-taneja?utm_campaignContempt of Court: SC Issues Notices to Kamra, Rachita Taneja
While Kamra allegedly posted scandalous tweets against SC, Taneja’s been accused of posting objectionable cartoons.
THE QUINT
Updated: 18 Dec 2020, 11:37 AM IST
2 min read
The Supreme Court passed its orders on Friday, 18 December, on the contempt petitions against comedian Kunal Kamra and comic artist Rachita Taneja.
The Supreme Court on Friday, 18 December, issued notices to comedian Kunal Kamra and comic illustrator Rachita Taneja on the petitions seeking criminal contempt action against them, LiveLaw reported.
While proceedings were initiated against Kamra for his tweets made about the Supreme Court and its judges, Taneja has been accused of publishing allegedly objectionable caricatures on her webcomic Sanitary Panels’ social media handles about the judiciary.
Both have been asked to file replies within six weeks.
The cases were heard by a bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah.
Attorney General KK Venugopal had given consent for filing of the contempt pleas against Kamra on 12 November. Two weeks later, he okay-ed contempt charges against Taneja.
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What Is the Case Against Kamra?
The two tweets, over which proceedings were initiated against Kamra, read:
“Honour has left the building (Supreme Court) long back.”
“The Supreme Court of this Country is the most Supreme joke of this country.”
A third tweet Kamra had shared showed an image of the Supreme Court building dressed in saffron colours with the BJP flag on top instead of the national flag.
A-G KK Venugopal, while approving contempt proceedings against Kamra, had said that his tweets “are not only in bad taste but clearly cross the line between humour and contempt of the Court.”
“This is a gross insinuation against the entirety of the Supreme Court of India that the Supreme Court of India is not an independent and impartial institution and so too its judges, but on the other hand is a Court of the ruling party, the BJP, existing for the BJP’s benefit,” Venugopal had said.
What Is the Case Against Taneja?
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to grant interim bail to television anchor Arnab Goswami, Taneja, who tweets from a handle by the name of @sanitarypanels, had on 12 November posted a caricature in which there were three characters.
While one of the characters carried the text ‘BJP’ in its face, the other was named ‘Supreme Court’. In between these two characters, a rather small character – the only one with hair on scalp – could be seen with a microphone with ‘R’ written on it.
The text above the picture read Tu Jaanta Nahi Mera Baap Kaun Hai (you don't’ know who my father is.)
Granting consent to Aditya Kashyap, a law student, over proceedings against Taneja, Venugopal had said that Taneja’s tweets had presented the Supreme Court of India “as biased towards the ruling party."
“If the first tweet depicting Arnab Goswami with the Supreme Court of India and Bharatiya Janata Party by his side and with Arnab mouthing the words ‘Tu jaanta nahi mera baap kaun hai” were to be believed, one would have to proceed on the basis that the BJP is somehow interested in protecting Arnab Goswami and has prevailed upon the Supreme Court to do so,” Venugopal had said.
Rachita Taneja is an Indian artist/cartoonist who identifies as the creator of the webcomic titled "Sanitary Panels", which she started in 2014.
Taneja is also the co-founder of Internet Freedom Foundation, which advocates net neutrality, privacy and free speech on the internet. She reportedly attended the Obama Foundation's Town Hall in New Delhi in 2017.
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Who Is Rachita Taneja, the Creator of Sanitary Panels?
Who Is Rachita Taneja, the Creator of Sanitary Panels?