Kochi: In a relief to state Culture Minister KC Joseph, the Kerala High Court today dropped the contempt of court proceedings against him over his remarks about one of its judges, accepting his unconditional apology.
Disposing of the contempt petition filed by a CPI-M legislator, a division bench of justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Sunil Thomas expressed hope he would dissuade himself from making such remarks in future.
The court expressed its displeasure over the comments made by Mr Joseph, a Congress leader, last July but said it was taking a lenient view on the matter.
In his petition, V Sivankutty had submitted the minister had committed criminal contempt by making derogatory remarks against Justice Alexander Thomas who had criticised the style of functioning of the state Advocate General's office.
Earlier when the matter came up for hearing today, Mr Joseph, who appeared in the court complying with its direction, produced a copy of his Facebook post in which he had made the apology on March 4.
He also informed the court that newspapers had carried the news about his apology throughout the state the very next day.
In his earlier affidavit, Mr Joseph had said the expressions used by him in the Facebook post were not intended to make any slanderous remarks against the judicial system or cause insinuation against a particular judge or to the system as a whole.
Disposing of the contempt petition filed by a CPI-M legislator, a division bench of justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Sunil Thomas expressed hope he would dissuade himself from making such remarks in future.
The court expressed its displeasure over the comments made by Mr Joseph, a Congress leader, last July but said it was taking a lenient view on the matter.
In his petition, V Sivankutty had submitted the minister had committed criminal contempt by making derogatory remarks against Justice Alexander Thomas who had criticised the style of functioning of the state Advocate General's office.
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Earlier when the matter came up for hearing today, Mr Joseph, who appeared in the court complying with its direction, produced a copy of his Facebook post in which he had made the apology on March 4.
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He also informed the court that newspapers had carried the news about his apology throughout the state the very next day.
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In his earlier affidavit, Mr Joseph had said the expressions used by him in the Facebook post were not intended to make any slanderous remarks against the judicial system or cause insinuation against a particular judge or to the system as a whole.
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