File photo of Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman of Press Council of India
The DMK has threatened to sue Justice Markandey Katju for declaring that an allegedly corrupt judge was kept in office at the Madras High Court because the political party threw its weight behind him. Demanding an unconditional apology, the DMK's Organizing Secretary R S Bharathi also suggested the former judge must explain the value of assets that he owns, including a farmhouse in Chennai.
Justice Katju, who retired from the Supreme Court in 2011, is the Chairman of the Press Council of India.
Last month, he made the incendiary allegation that the DMK, grateful to a judge for granting bail to one of its top leaders, warned in 2004 that it would quit Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government if the judge was not allowed to remain in office.
Justice Katju, who was the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, claims that the judge had been indicted for corruption by an Intelligence Bureau enquiry but that under pressure from the union government, he was granted an extension.
He controversially declared that three former Chief Justices of India were guilty of "improper compromises" in the matter.