Plea to withdraw National Anthem complaint against Tharoor rejected

Kochi: A Court in Kerala on Tuesday dismissed a plea to withdraw the complaint in the National Anthem case against Union Minister Shashi Tharoor.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate M Manoj rejected the plea of petitioner Joy Kaitharath that he did not want to continue with the case and seeking the court's permission to withdraw the same. The court held that there was no provision to withdraw the complaint.

Meanwhile, a petition by Tharoor seeking to discharge him from the case will come up before the court on June 1. The court also dismissed a petition by one Joe Mon Puthenpurikkal to implead in the complaint by Kaitharath.

The case was registered against Tharoor, Minister of State for HRD, on the basis of the private complaint by Kaitharath contending that the Congress MP had committed offences under section 3 of Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1977, enacted to prohibit desecration of the National Anthem.

According to the complainant, Tharoor had on December 16, 2008, allegedly interrupted the National Anthem at a function of the Federal Bank at Kochi. He had asked the audience to sing the anthem by placing their right hand on the left side of the chest like the Americans instead of the attention posture.