A bid by Kerala’s Congress Minister KC Joseph, a staunch loyalist of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, to escape proceedings for criminal contempt of court without appearing before the court met with failure on Tuesday. The High court ordered Joseph to appear in person before it on March 1. It had on February 3 instructed him to appear on Tuesday.
Through an affidavit submitted on Tuesday, Joseph tendered unconditional apology for his earlier Facebook post likening Justice Alexander Thomas of the High Court to the jackal that pretended to be king after falling in paint bucket. The Minister had also expressed his inability to appear in person in the court as the Assembly session was on.
In the affidavit, Joseph, the Cultural Affairs Minister, said it was a mistake on his part to make the controversial Facebook post against Justice Thomas and he had withdrawn it moment he realised his mistake. He added that he held the Judiciary in high respect and prayed to the court to end the contempt proceedings by accepting his unconditional apology.
However, a division bench of Justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Sunil Thomas said that the Minister should behave seriously and that his Facebook comment could in no way be considered as a silly matter. It said the Minister should appear in person on March 1 and the contents of his apology could be examined after that.
Joseph, who is often accused of being in the habit of turning against courts and judges in the context of adverse verdicts against his party or the Congress-led State Government, had on July 24 last severely criticized Justice Alexander Thomas for his criticisms against the alleged lack of interest of the Advocate General’s office in the cases of public interest.
In the controversial Facebook post, Joseph had also accused the judge of being publicity-crazy and said, “One wouldn’t be surprised about the (judge’s) comment if the history of the person is examined.” The High Court had initiated criminal contempt proceedings against Joseph for these comments on the basis of a petition filed by Marxist MlA V Sivankutty.
Irked by the inability of the State’s lawyers to produce the required documents while considering two important cases on July 23, Justice Alexander Thomas had complained that the State Advocate General’s office was not providing the court with the information it demanded in time and that many of the instructions of the court were being disregarded.
The judge had also come down heavily on the Chief Minister by saying that he had no right to criticize Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi for representing Kerala’s bar owners in the Supreme Court when he was unable to ensure proper and efficient functioning of the law office of his own State. It was this comment which had enraged Minister Joseph.
Even the Chief Minister himself had turned against the judge for his observations.