High Court asks minister Joseph to appear before it on March 1

Kochi: The high court on Tuesday asked minister K C Joseph to appear before it on March 1 to face contempt of court proceedings for his Facebook post berating Justice Alexander Thomas. This comes despite the minister seeking an apology through an affidavit filed in the court.
In the affidavit, filed through advocate P Martin Jose, the minister said, "I have always maintained highest respect for the institution of judiciary and have never attempted to offend the majesty of law, undermine dignity of courts or obstruct the administration of justice.I hereby tender unconditional and unqualified apology before this honourable court and pray that this honourable court may be pleased to ac cept my apology and drop all urther proceedings in con empt against me."
The Facebook post followed Justice Alexander's strong criticism regarding he inefficiency of advocate general's office. In the post, he minister had allegedly stated that there can be no surprise if the jackal who ell into indigo dye howls and that he cannot be blamed.
The contempt proceedings were initiated on a pe ition filed by V Sivankutty MLA through advocate C P Udayabhanu. In addition to the MLA, a similar demand was raised by All India Lawyers' Union (AILU), advocate J S Ajith Kumar of Chittoor Road, advocate B H Mansoor, and advocate Basil Attipetty.
On February 2, a division bench comprising Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice Sunil Thomas had asked the minister to appear before it on Tuesday (February 16) after finding that the minister's comment prima facie amounts to contempt of court. The minister filed an apo logy to the court as a hearing on the matter was scheduled at 3.30pm on Tuesday. The Facebook post was withdrawn as soon as he realized the mistake, the minister claimed in the affidavit. A separate affidavit was filed by him stating that he was not able to appear before the court as he had to attend the budget discussions in the ongoing legislative assembly session. He can appear on any day after February 25, the affidavit said.
Considering the affidavits, the court pointed out that the alleged contemptuous act was not made by a common man, but a minister. Sticking to the stand that the minister has to appear in person, the court directed the minister to be present at 3.30pm on March 1.