Former Supreme Court justice Markandey Katju apologised to the apex court on Friday for his comments against its verdict on the rape and murder of a woman in Kochi, urging the court to close the contempt case he is facing for his remarks. Katju said he respected the judicial process and has deleted his Facebook post where he had criticised the ruling.
“I am ready to read out the apology before the open court,” his two-page application said. The bench, headed by Justice J Ranjan Gogoi, said it will consider an early hearing of the application, reported dna.
On November 11, the Supreme Court had slapped a contempt notice on Katju for the personal remarks he had made against the judges who had pronounced the ruling in the Kochi rape and murder case. The bench had summoned the former top court justice to discuss what he believed were “fundamental flaws” in its September 15 verdict.
The Supreme Court, on September 15, had commuted the death sentence awarded to Govindachamy, who was convicted in the case, and sentenced him to seven years in prison. The top court had dropped the murder charges against the convict but had held him guilty of the rape of the 24-year-old woman in February 2011.
In his Facebook post, Katju had argued that the Supreme Court had erroneously dropped the murder charges against Govindachamy. He had also accused the apex court of taking into consideration “hearsay evidence, which is inadmissible” in the court of law.
Govindachamy was given the death sentence by a fast-track court in Thrissur. The Kerala High Court had upheld the ruling awarding him capital punishment in January 2014.
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