We Are Not Amused

The comedian has been suddenly elevated to the status of a national joke-maker because the A-G, like the good Queen Victoria, is not amused. Have we lost our sense of humour, along with smell, in Covid times?

- Kamaljit Singh Garewal

OH come on, Mr AttorneyGeneral! Are you serious? Even if many a true word has been spoken in jest, how do Kunal Kamra’s little Twitter jokes even remotely resemble contempt of court? And that too criminal enough to lock him up for six months? The frightful new disease we are confronted with since spring first destroys the sense of smell, but has sense of humour also vanished?

Kunal Kamra is a comedian. His job is to make people laugh. If people stop laughing, Kamra shall go to sleep hungry. And now he has suddenly been elevated to the status of a national joke-maker because the Attorney-General, like the good Queen Victoria, is not amused.

In a country where 69 percent of the prison population is undertrials, one would think the Attorney-General’s first and foremost duty is to reduce this figure and second duty is to speed up trials. These men and women are those who have either been denied bail or have not the means to furnish it, even though they carry with them the presumption of innocence. The order passed in the Arnab Goswami case shall immensely help these hapless ones. “Facts do not warrant detention, bail to the satisfaction of the Magistrate” is very often the only order that is passed on most bail applications. But it takes weeks and months to secure even this one-liner.