Chennai: Averring that she had never intended to hurt the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka BJP Leader and Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje has tendered an apology in the Madras High Court for her remarks linking the people of TN to the Bengaluru Rameswaram Cafe blast.
The Union Minister tendered her apology through an affidavit in the Madras High Court on Tuesday, when her plea seeking to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered against her by the Madurai police came up for hearing.
In the affidavit, she said she was tendering an apology if the statements made by her to the media during the Rameswaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru in March this year had hurt their feelings.
She said the alleged comment made by her about the people of Tamil Nadu while addressing the media about the Rameswaram café bomb blast case at Bengaluru, was made without any intention to hurt the sentiments and feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu.
Pointing out that she had already retracted her previous comments and tendered her profound apologies through social media platforms if her remarks had hurt the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu, she said “I have the highest respect and regard to the history, rich culture, tradition and to the people of Tamil Nadu and I had or have no intention whatsoever to hurt the sentiments of people of Tamil Nadu by any conduct of mine.
“Hence, I hereby once again tender my apology to the people of Tamil Nadu for having caused any hurt from my comments. The same may kindly be taken on record in the interest of justice”, she said.
After accepting her submissions, the Court adjourned the matter to Thursday.
It may be recalled that during the earlier hearing in the case last month, the Tamil Nadu government had informed the court that the criminal case against the Karnataka Lok Sabha MP could be quashed if she tendered an apology for her remarks linking Tamils with the Rameswaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru.
The pending case against the Union Minister can be quashed if she hold a press meet and tender an apology for her objectionable remarks, Advocate General (AG) PS Raman had told the court.
After the AG submitted a draft apology letter on behalf of the State government before Justice G Jayachandran, the AG also sought the Court to direct the petitioner to convene a press meeting to tender an apology for her objectionable remarks and submitted that if the petitioner agreed to tender an apology then her petition seeking to quash the criminal case can be allowed.
Though her counsel informed the court that she was willing to file an affidavit expressing apology, the court opined that it would be more appropriate to hold a press conference and apologize as the comments were also made publicly.
After the submission, the judge observed that since the petitioner’s remarks sent wrong message to the society, it should be cleared.
During the hearing, the Judge orally observed that people in power should be more conscious while making statements.
The allegation against Ms Shobha was that in March 2024, after the blasts in Rameshwaram café, she had allegedly said, “People trained in Tamil Nadu plant bombs here. Bomb was planted at the hotel.”
Following this, one Thiagarajan, a resident of Madurai, lodged a complaint stating that the alleged remark was intended to create enmity and hatred among Tamils and Kannadigas.
Acting on the complaint, FIR was registered against her under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups), 505(i)(b) (making statements which may cause public alarm) and 505(2) (making statements that create hatred or ill will) of the Indian Penal Code.
The court had previously questioned the statements made by Ms Shobha Karandlaje and asked how the Minister could link the blasts with the people of Tamil Nadu even before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted its searches.
