The Supreme Court on Thursday, while reprimanding Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi for belittling the Indian judiciary on social media, directed him to tender an unconditional apology before this court in the matter.
The orders were passed by the Bench of Justice M.R. Shah and Justice C.T. Ravikumar, which expressed its dissatisfaction over the counter-affidavit filed by Modi and directed him to file a fresh affidavit, stating that he would not post any such remarks in future, which even remotely, would tantamount to tarnishing the image of the judiciary.
The Apex Court, while noting that the IPL founder was not above the law and institution, further directed him to tender an apology on social media as well as in leading national newspapers.
Earlier on January 27, the Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice M.M. Sundresh had flayed the IPL founder for making derogatory comments against Senior Advocate and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who was representing his mother Bina Modi in a property dispute case.
While refusing to pass a written order, the Bench had orally directed Senior Advocate Harish Salve, representing Modi, to use his ‘good office’ and advise his client to take ‘remedial measures’.
The top court of the country had then observed that whenever two parties involved in a litigation took their fight to a public forum, it became detrimental to both the parties and led to retaliation in a similar manner.
Stating that both the parties in the case were mature enough to understand not to give in to such outbursts, the top court of the country directed Modi to remove the social media posts made by him against his family members and Rohatgi.
The Bench further observed that the legal battle between the two parties was entirely separate and directed them not to involve their lawyers in personal matters.
The Counsel for Modi apprised the Apex Court that the post made against Rohatgi has been taken down.