BSE contemplates legal action against Kunal Kamra

Comedian Kunal Kamra’s imbecile sense of humour seems to have gotten him into quite a fix. Known for his hatred and false propaganda against the Prime Minister, his tweets are insulting and borderline defamatory, all in the name a “good sense of humour”. However, Kamra’s latest stunt seems to have brought him in a legal fix with the Bombay Stock Exchange. BSE is contemplating legal action against the comedian for unauthorized use of the image of the Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, which has a trademark registration. The image of the iconic building was used for ‘nefarious activities’.

On April 14th, Kunal Kamra shared a bunch of altered pictures which were aimed at urging people to not vote for Narendra Modi.  The photos were captioned, “These photos are as real as Modiji’s promises”. The photos included, an altered version of the image of a black hole, along with a historic picture of a 1929 demonstration in Madras calling for a boycott of the Simon Commission where demonstrators are seen carrying black banners with the slogan “Simon Go Back”, which has been replaced with “Don’t Vote for Modi”. Not only were these pictures highly misleading, as any prudent person coming across them will tend to believe them to be real; but also, they have infringed the legal rights of BSE as one of the pictures is portraying the Bombay Stock Exchange building to display, “Don’t vote for Modi”. This image has been morphed as such to make the public believe that BSE is ratifying Kamra’s stand.

The Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers are an iconic landmark in Mumbai, which had been granted a trademark registration under the Indian Trademarks Act of 1999 in June, 2018. Moreover, the towers are a symbol of India’s economy.

BSE, clearly disturbed at this false portrayal and blatant misuse is considering legal action against Kamra.

Their tweet stated, “A fake morphed photo against a political party using BSE building has been shared by Kunal Kamra,” BSE India said on Twitter on Friday. “BSE is extremely disappointed at unfortunate, unauthorized [and] illegal use of BSE buildg [building] fr [for] nefarious activities. BSE reserves right to take appropriate legal action agnst [against] Kunal Kamra (sic.).”

The comedian, no doubt highly uneasy at the prospect of possible legal action, with no reasonable defence sought his safe harbour- the use of comedy.

He responded to BSE’s tweet by saying his tweet was “clearly a joke”. “Sensex of humour is down by many points,” he said on Twitter. “PS – Do they have WiFi in jail?””

This uncalled comedy of his has been used to get him out of fixes multiple times in the past and is what has saved him from defamatory action before. But this time, infringing the rights of BSE’s building- a symbol of the economy in India has gone too far and will probably get what has been due since a long time.