Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje has filed an affidavit before the Madras High Court tendering her apology to the people of Tamil Nadu if the statements made by her to the media during the Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru in March this year had hurt their feelings.
The affidavit, filed through her counsel on record R. Hariprasad, read: “I state that the alleged comment made by me about the people of Tamil Nadu while addressing the media about the Rameshwaram café bomb blast case at Bengaluru, was made without any intention to hurt the sentiments and feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu.
“Having understood that the comments made by me had hurt the sentiments and feelings of some people of Tamil Nadu, I have already retracted my previous comments and tendered my profound apologies through social media platforms.”
She went on to state: “I have the highest respect and regard to the history, rich culture, tradition and to the people of Tamil Nadu and I had or have no intention whatsoever to hurt the sentiments of people of Tamil Nadu by any conduct of mine. Hence, I hereby once again tender my apology to the people of Tamil Nadu for having caused any hurt from my comments. The same may kindly be taken on record in the interest of justice.”
The affidavit was filed in support of her plea to quash a First Information Report (FIR) registered against her by the Madurai city cyber crime police on the basis of a complaint lodged by a local resident C. Thiagarajan on March 20 after her watching her interview on television channels and the social media.
The FIR had been booked under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups), 505(i)(b) (making statements which may cause public alarm) and 505(2) (making statements that create hatred or ill will) of the Indian Penal Code.
When the plea for FIR quash petition was listed for admission before Justice G. Jayachandran in July this year, the judge wanted to know whether the State would be willing to drop prosecution against the Union Minister if she calls for a press conference and tenders an apology.
After obtaining instructions from the “highest level,” Advocate General P.S. Raman submitted a draft apology on August 7 and told the court that the FIR could be quashed by the court if the Minister reads out the draft before the media. However, Mr. Hariprasad, expressed reservations on the part of the Minister in tendering the apology through a press conference.
He said that the Minister was, however, willing to file an affidavit of apology before the court and argue the FIR quash petition on merits. Accordingly, the affidavit was filed before the court on Tuesday. The Advocate General told the court that he would go through the affidavit and obtain necessary instructions.
After accepting his submissions, the judge adjourned the FIR quash petition to Thursday for further hearing.
