Supreme Court accepts Katju's unconditional apology

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday closed the contempt of proceedings against justice Markandey Katju, its former judge, as it accepted an unconditional apology tendered by him.

The division bench of justice Ranjan Gogoi and justice Uday Umesh Lalit closed the case stating, "In view of the apology tendered, we accept and close the proceeding."

The apex court had issued suo motu contempt notice to its former judge on November 11 regarding his vocal opinion in blogs written by him which had comments on the judges.

The Supreme Court had summoned Katju for hinting that the apex court has committed a serious mistake by not imposing death penalty on the convict of the infamous Soumya rape and murder case. It was the first time that the court has considered the former SC judge’s personal blog as the review petition.

“Such a view coming from a retired judge of this court needs to be treated with greatest respect and consideration,” the three-judged bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice PC Pant and Justice UU Lalit had said.

What Katju said in the apology:

• I offer my unconditional apology for publishing the above captioned writings and have deleted the same from my blog entries on Facebook.
• Apology was read out in the court by senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan appearing for him.
• I express my respect for the judicial appointment process and for the judiciary as an institution of governance.

  I am prepared to read it in open court if I am called upon to do so.