Chennai: Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje on Tuesday tendered an apology in Madras High Court months after alleging that people from Tamil Nadu had been behind the blast at Bengaluru’s Rameswaram café.
Filing an affidavit before the High Court, the minister apologized to the people of Tamil Nadu if her statements in March had hurt them.
Also, she filed a plea to quash the First Information Report (FIR) filed against her by the Madurai City Cyber Crime Police following a complaint by a local resident.
The minister faced charges 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).
Shobha Karandlaje in her affidavit said that she had no intention of hurting sentiments and feeling of the people of Tamil Nadu when she made the comment while addressing the media about the Rameshwaram café bomb blast case at Bengaluru.
Stating that she already ‘retracted’ her previous comments, the Minsters said she had tendered ‘profound’ apologies through social media platforms.
Karandlaje said that she had highest respect for the rich culture and tradition of Tamil Nadu.
Accepting her submissions, Justice G Jayachandran adjourned the case to Thursday.