By Ashraf Padanna /Thiruvananthapuram


A local court in Kerala has dropped an alleged disrespect to the national anthem case against Dr Shashi Tharoor, the former undersecretary general of the UN who is now a junior minister under Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, after a prolonged litigation.
The case, which began four and a half years ago before the general elections that he won, was repeatedly postponed as witnesses failed to show up. He also unsuccessfully moved the High Court twice.
Tharoor first moved the HC with the plea to stop further proceedings in the case after the lower court rejected his demand. But the upper court declined to interfere with the proceedings saying it cannot be canvassed by the defendant at a pre-trial stage to seek the aid of the court to summon a document to prove his innocence.
He moved the HC again, this time pleading to direct the trial court to view the video clipping of the meeting in which he allegedly showed “disrespect” to the national anthem by placing his hand on his chest the way ‘Americans do’.
“I am relieved that after four and a half long years, justice has finally been done,” Tharoor said. “I was deeply hurt to be unjustly accused of disrespecting the anthem when all I was seeking to do was to show my heartfelt love for our nation. It is an immense relief that this ordeal is now over”.
A case was registered against Tharoor on the basis of a private complaint that he had violated the National Honour Act, 1977, enacted to prohibit desecration or insult to the country’s national anthem.
It was alleged that on December 16, 2008, Tharoor had interrupted the national anthem after a public lecture of the Federal Bank in Kochi.
The complainant said Tharoor took a microphone and directed the audience that the national anthem is to be sung in the American way keeping the right hand on the left chest instead of the attention posture.
Tharoor clarified he only wanted to evoke patriotism in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and the rest was attributed to him by the litigant
“I have never taken a foreign passport in my entire career (with the UN). I chose to come back to India instead of settling in the West. No way have I insulted the national anthem and it’s unthinkable. I said we should feel our national anthem in our heart,” he said.
As the litigation prolonged, he issued a public apology and the litigant informed the court of his intention to withdraw his complaint last month.
“There were three different magistrates who have taken over the case one after the other. It’s a waste of money and time. So I wanted a speedy disposal of the case,” Tharoor said.
Dropping the case, the court finally observed that there were no rules about the posture while rendering the national anthem except that everyone should rise in respect. The CJM, M Manoj, also cited a 1986 verdict of the Supreme Court in this regard.
According to Tharoor, the entire establishment of the port city of Kochi where he delivered his first public speech in the state, including the police chief, the district collector and heads of the seaport and airport were there at the lecture and it was an august house.
“For that (expressing patriotism) to take me to court, that’s really most frivolous vexatious and nasty thing,” Tharoor said. “It’s the time when it’s rumoured that I might be considering entering politics (in India)”.
The lower court admitted the case as it found prima facie evidence against him for making a ‘grossly inappropriate gesture’.
“Various settlements have been offered to me but I wanted nothing short of an unconditional withdrawal,” said Tharoor, who won the parliamentary elections from the southern state’s capital with a huge margin in 2009 despite the controversy. “I’m a very proud patriot and I wanted to clear my name in this. I’m thankful to the court”.