The AG informed the Court that the case booked against the Union Minister could be quashed if she calls for a press conference and apologises for her remarks.
(Photo: Twitter/@ShobhaBJP)
Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje should hold a press conference and apologise for linking the Rameswaram café blast in Bengaluru with Tamil Nadu Advocate General PS Raman told the Madras High Court on Wednesday.
He made the submission before Justice G Jayachandran during the hearing of Karandlaje’s petition seeking to quash an FIR filed against her for making a statement on March 19 that the bombers of Rameshwaram Café blast at Bengaluru on March 1 were trained in Tamil Nadu.
The AG informed the Court that the case booked against the Union Minister could be quashed if she calls for a press conference and apologises for her remarks. A draft of the apology, expected from the minister, was also circulated. Following this, the Judge granted 10 days for the counsel for the minister to take instructions on whether the minister was prepared to do so.
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When the counsel submitted that the minister was prepared to file an affidavit expressing an apology, the Judge made it clear that since her statement was made in public, it was only appropriate that she hold a press conference and apologise.
Further Justice Jayachandran orally observed: “People in power should be more conscious while making statements.” During the earlier hearing, the Judge had questioned on what basis she had made her comments even before the National Investigation Agency, probing the case, carried out searches.
The case was booked on a complaint by one Thiagarajan of Madurai, who said that the minister’s remark was intended to foment hatred and enmity between Kannadigas and Tamils. The Minister, in her petition submitted that she had already retracted her statement, apologizing for the same and contended that the FIR, filed with ulterior motive was an abuse of the process of law and against freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution.
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