Union Minister of State for Labor and Employment Shobha Karandlaje's counsel on Friday told the Madras High Court that she has certain reservations over accepting the Tamil Nadu Advocate General's (AG) submission that a criminal case booked against her can be quashed if she calls for a press. conference and reads out a draft apology prepared by him for the remarks made by her during the Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru.
Appearing before Justice G. Jayachandran, her counsel on record said the reservations were with respect to the wordings of the draft apology circulated by AG PS Raman on August 7. However, when the judge pointed out that it was just a four-line draft, the counsel said her client had already tendered a similar apology through her X (formerly Twitter) handle and began reading out the text of her tweet.
Irked over it, the judge told the counsel that the Minister should either be ready to tender an apology sincerely through the same forum where she had made the objectionable remarks in order to give a quietus to the issue, or he should argue on the merits of her plea to quash a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Madurai city cybercrime police on the basis of a complaint lodged by a local resident C. Thiagarajan.
When the judge said she could not blow hot and cold, her counsel replied: “We will be happy to contest on merits.” However, when the judge asked him to commence arguments, he sought time for the appearance of a senior counsel. “I am much younger to the learned Advocate General,” he said before the judge directed the Registry to list the quash petition on August 23 for the appearance of a senior counsel.
During the previous hearings of the quash petition, the judge had wanted to know whether the FIR could be quashed if the Minister tenders an apology through a press meet. Accordingly, the AG reverted back after getting clearance from the “highest level” and said the case could be quashed if the apology was tendered by calling for a press conference. Thereafter, the judge had adjourned the matter for the Minister to respond.