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Kerala HC rejects CPM minister's apology
Ramesh Babu
Thiruvananthapuram, April 2, 2007
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| | The Kerala High Court on Monday pulled up the State Local Self Government Minister Paloli Muhammed Kutty for denigrating the judiciary and refused to accept the apology tendered by him in connection with a criminal contempt case.
The division bench of the Acting Chief Justice KS Radhakrishan and Justice MN Krishnan passed severe strictures against the CPM minister and decided to go ahead with the contempt proceedings against him. Rejecting his unconditional apology the court asked him to apologise to the people.
"He's no ordinary citizen. He's a responsible minister. He has to uphold the Constitution. But his statement has denigrated the judiciary as a whole. More than the court he should apologise to the people," the bench observed. The court will take up the case again on April 11.
However, the court has dropped contempt proceedings against four newspapers for reporting the speech of the minister. They pleaded that they carried the report in good trust upholding the true journalistic values.
The High Court had suo motu initiated criminal contempt proceedings against the minister after he allegedly made some remarks maligning the credibility of the judiciary. The court had also initiated action against four newspapers for carrying his speech. Following this the minister had appeared before the court in February and tendered an unconditional apology.
Paloli, currently in Delhi to attend the CPM central committee meeting, said he would react only after examining the observations fully. However, the Opposition Congress and BJP have demanded the resignation of the minister. "The court has already found him guilty. There is no point in waiting for the final verdict. The chief minister should drop him immediately," Opposition leader Oommen Chandy demanded.
Last week a lower court had sentenced Power Minister AK Balan (CPM) to two years imprisonment for disrupting train services during a statewide strike. |
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