Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 14, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, Apr 14, 2007 ePaper |
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Staff Reporter
Kochi: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday rejected an unconditional apology tendered by Local Self-Government Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty in a contempt of court case. The court posted the case to May 30 for taking further steps against him under the Contempt of Court (High Court of Kerala) Rules. The steps under Rule 14(b)(1) include proceedings to frame contempt charges against the Minister and other respondents. The Bench of acting Chief Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice M.N. Krishnan observed that they did not find any reason to accept the apology. The Bench made it clear that whatever observations the court had made in its earlier orders were only tentative and these would have no impact when the matter was finally decided. The court, however, accepted the apology tendered by the Rashtra Deepika and the Thejus since they had published only the words spoken by the Minister. The contempt proceedings against the Mangalam and the Madhyamam will continue. The court observed that the law of criminal contempt generally describes two categories of contempt. The first category includes administration of justice, preservation of public confidence in its honesty, and impartiality and credibility of the justice system. The second is to safeguard the reputation of the judge's character, conduct, behaviour, etc. The words spoken by the Minister at a function in Kozhikode on January 30 fell under the first category, which would result in clear threat to fair and effective administration of justice, if established. If his words fell under the second category, the Bench would have readily accepted the apology. The court said it had approached the question of accepting the apology not from the point of view of the persons whose honour and dignity were to be vindicated, but from the point of view of the public who had entrusted to courts the task of administration of justice. It added that the plea of apology from ordinary and illiterate persons stood on a different footing.
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