Plea to intervene in National Anthem case

Kerala High Court deferred to Thursday a plea seeking to intervene in the criminal complaint filed against Union Minister of state for HRD, Shashi Tharoor for allegedly showing disrespect to the National Anthem in 2008.
Justice V K Mohanan posted the case to June 6 for preliminary hearing when the petition by Joemon Puthenpurackal came up.
The petitioner had approached the court challenging the order of Chief Judicial magistrate court dismissing his impleading plea on a petition filed by Joy Kaitharath, who had filed a petition against Tharoor under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971 alleging that he had shown disrespect to the National Anthem at a function on December 16, 2008.

Kaitharath had later moved a petition saying he wanted to withdraw the complaint, which was turned down by the court.
According to his previous complaint, when the National Anthem was being sung at a function in Kochi, Tharoor announced that the Anthem should be sung in the American way keeping the right hand on the left chest instead of the attention posture being followed in the country.
Puthenpurackal alleged that Kaitharath had wanted to withdraw the complaint against Tharoor as he had allegedly been requested by the minister to withdraw it.
This reveals a 'shocking collusion' between the complainant and the accused to end a criminal prosecution in a case involving serious criminal offences affecting the honour ofthe nation, he said.