Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik tendered an “unconditional apology” to the Bombay High Court on Friday for “wilfully breaching” his undertaking given to court that he would not make statements against Dhyandev Wankhede, father of Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede, and his family.
It was not his intention to dishonour the court by breaching his own undertaking, Mr. Malik said in the three-page affidavit.
But he also contended that he made the comments in question during an interview and they were not part of social media posts, or public comments.
“I offer my unconditional apology to this court in terms of breaches of the undertaking given on November 25 and November 29,” he said in the affidavit. He will not make any personal comments about the Wankhede family until the High Court heard the defamation suit filed against him by Sameer Wankhede’s father Dnyandev, the Minister said.
The undertaking submitted before a division bench of Justices S.J. Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav read, “I however, believe my statement would not prevent me from commenting on the political misuse of central agencies and the conduct of their officers in the course of performance of their official duties hereafter.”
The Court accepted Mr. Malik’s apology and said a minister is not a layman.
Senior advocate Aspi Chinor appearing for Mr Malik said he would not comment on the personal life or family members of the Wankhede family.
On December 7, the same bench had noted that Mr. Malik has “willfully breached” his undertaking given to court last month when he made defamatory statements against Mr Wankhede and his family when he was being interviewed by a regional newspaper.
On November 29, the same court had directed Mr. Malik to not make any public statements or use social media against the Wankhedes. Mr. Wankhede had filed a suit seeking damages of ₹1.25 crore from Mr. Malik for making defamatory statements.
The plea said that Mr. Malik had leaked a birth certificate, purportedly that of his son on Twitter allegedly showing that he was a Muslim. The suit urged the court to grant him an injunction from court to direct Mr Malik to not post any defamatory or derogatory statements and social media posts against his family.
(With inputs from PTI)
