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1994 Supreme(Kar) 401
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE
K.B. Navadgi and B.N. Krishnan, JJ.
M.D. Muthu and others —Appellant
Vs.
Rev. D.P. Shettian —Respondent
Civil Contempt Petition (Cr.) 6 of 1988
Decided on : 21-04-1994
Advocate Appeared:
Mr. B.P. Holla, for the Appellant
Mr. V. Tarakaram, Sr. Advocate, for the Respondent
Apology in a contempt case takes the character of admission and should be bona fide and expressed in clear and unambiguous language.
Headnote:
Criminal Contempt - Apology - [Contempt] - [Contempt of Court Act, 1971, Section 2(c)] - The court considered the accused's apology in a criminal contempt case and accepted it, exonerating him from the contempt proceedings. The court emphasized that apology in a contempt case takes the character of admission and is accepted to purge the contempt charge and in lieu of punishment. The court also highlighted that the accused's apology should be bona fide and expressed in clear and unambiguous language.
Fact of the Case:
The accused was charged with criminal contempt for publishing offending articles against the complainants and others in a Kannada daily. The accused tendered an unconditional apology, which was contested by the complainants' counsel.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the accused committed technical contempt but did not have a deliberate design or sinister motive to obstruct the administration of justice. The court also noted that the apology was bona fide and accepted it to uphold the majesty of law and vindicate the authority of the court.
Issues: The issues revolved around the acceptance of the accused's apology in a belated stage of the proceedings and the nature of the contempt committed.
Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized that apology in a contempt case takes the character of admission and should be accepted to purge the contempt charge and in lieu of punishment. The court also highlighted the importance of a bona fide and unambiguous apology.
Final Decision: The court accepted the accused's unconditional and unqualified apology, exonerating him from the contempt proceedings and closing the case.
K.B. Navadgi, J.—In this matter, complainants 1 to 6 have produced documentary evidence marked as Exs. P.1 to P.8. They have to adduce oral evidence.
2. The matter relates to the criminal contempt committed by the accused, of this Court and the Courts subordinate to this Court in which judicial proceedings between the complainants 1 to 6 and others and the accused and others are pending.
3. The accused has come forward to tender unqualified and unconditional apology with a prayer to accept the same and purge him of the contempt.
4. We have heard Sri B.P. Holla, Learned Counsel for complainants 1 to 6 and Sri V. Tarakaram, the Learned Senior Counsel for the accused, on the question as to whether the apology the accused wants to tender should be accepted and if so in what form. We have taken the assistance of the Learned Advocate General to decide the question.
5. We have perused the apology placed on record by the accused in the form of his affidavit for our perusal and acceptance.
6. Sri B.P. Holla, Learned Counsel for complainants 1 to 6, made a two-fold submission. In the forefront he urged that apology as it has come at the belated stage of the proceedings should not be accepted particularly in view of the grave nature of the contempt committed by the accused and the unjust and improper abusive epithets used by him in the two offending publications against complainants 1 to 6 and others belonging to United Bassel Mission Church in India (South Kanara and Coorg Unit). In the alternative he submitted that if the Court were to accept the apology it should be not in the form in which it is now tendered, but in a form showing in clear language the withdrawal of the offending passages in the two publications which are the. subject matter of the accusation. In support of his main submission and alternative submission, Sri B.P. Holla, invited our attention to the law pronounced by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in a series of decisions including the decision in the case of Tarun Bharat Sangh, Alwar Vs. Union of India and others, AIR 1993 SC 293 We have given our careful consideration to the entire matter.
7. We have studied the decisions cited at the Bar. Before we proceed further in the matter, it appears necessary for us to record a finding that the accused has committed the criminal contempt of this Court and the Courts subordinate to the Court in which the judicial proceedings between the complainants and the others on the one hand and the accused and others on the other hand are pending. We may observe that in a contempt case apology takes the character of admission. Apology is accepted to purge the contempt of the charge of contempt and exonerate him. It is also accepted in lieu of the punishment the contempt is liable for having committed the offence of contempt.
8. Of course, by the two offending publications marked as Annexures 'C' and 'D' to the contempt petition, published by the accused in the two issues of Udaya Vani, a Kannada daily, published from Manipal in South Kanara District, the accused interpreted the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of District Council of United Basel Mission Church Vs. Salvador Nichoias Mathias, ILR 1989 KAR 587, tried to convey to the members of the public that the question of merger of United Bassel Mission Church with the Church of South India and the implementation of the merger had received the approval of the highest House of Law in the country, in the decision and that the proceedings questioning the implementation of the merger resolution was a futile exercise. But on a careful reading of the publications, we are unable to subscribe to the submission made by Sri B.P. Holla that the accused has by interpreting the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court has chosen the course of rewriting the judgment or pre-judging the issue of the implementation of the meger. True, the accused is a lettered man enjoying high position and status in the protestant circle of Christianity. But it
