Contempt Plea Against Artist Rachita Taneja Over Comics On Supreme Court

Following consent from Attorney General KK Venugopal, a contempt plea has been filed against comic artist Rachita Taneja at the Supreme Court over a comic-strip she made. The plea for criminal contempt proceedings has been initiated by Aditya Kashyap, a fifth-year law student, with regard to a comic posted by Taneja on her art page Sanitary Panels. The comics allegedly insinuated that the Supreme Court was working in tandem with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kashyap, filing his plea through advocate Namit Saxena, states, "The three alleged posts in the form of cartoons/ caricatures have shaken the public trust and confidence in the judicial system of our constitutional democracy by directly attacking and making insinuations against the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India." 

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Case Background

Last week, Venugopal had granted consent to Kashyap for initiating contempt proceedings against Taneja over her tweets. "The tweet is clearly calculated to undermine the public confidence in the independence and impartiality of the Supreme Court of India," Live Law quoted him saying. 

One of the cartoons in question depicted news anchor Arnab Goswami, BJP, and the apex court, alleging a biased partnership between the three. The consent for the criminal contempt plea has been given on grounds that Taneja's comics reportedly seek to undermine the authority of the SC. They were taken to be an "audacious assault and insult to the institution."

Attorney General KK Venugopal states that the tweet by @sanitarypanels has a clear implication that #SupremeCourt is based towards the ruling political party BJP.@BJP4India

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) December 1, 2020

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About Rachita Taneja

Rachita Taneja, a Bangalore-based artist, is the founder of the popular social media page Sanitary Panels. Her webcomics mainly use stick figures and script sarcastic commentary on current affairs. Taneja has revealed that she titled her comics Sanitary Panels because she wanted her cartoons to break taboos and be confrontational.

"My work has reached millions of people and I feel the responsibility to put out content that is accurate, fair, and also contributes to social justice,” Taneja has previously stated in a video she put out.

Following case proceedings against Taneja, several comic artists on social media have extended support to her, citing suppression of free speech in art. Many are now replicating the comic themes Taneja used in her tweets to show solidarity for her. Taneja has responded to the support with the following comic:

Thank you for the outpouring of love. I am filled with gratitude. It’s a rough time for a lot of people, and we’ll get through it by sticking together.

In solidarity,
Rachita pic.twitter.com/kRkvlYYuM6

— Sanitary Panels (@sanitarypanels) December 2, 2020