The Supreme Court Wednesday accepted former Army Chief V K Singhs unqualified apology and withdrawal of all statements he made at any time against the judiciary on his age row. VK Singh faces wrath of Supreme Court for contemptuous remarks A bench of Justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale dropped the contempt proceedings,initiated suo motu over contentious statements Singh was said to have made to news agency ANI. The court had said the comments scandalise or tend to scandalise it. Army Chief now says could have avoided age row Repentance is a tool which condones all sorts of misdemeanour. apology tendered by the contemnors without contesting on merits and at the earliest opportunity appears to be bona fide. We accept the apology and contempt proceedings are dropped, it said while discharging the contempt notice. Army chief blames Army for age row,'original sin committed by force' The bench dropped proceedings against The Indian Express as well,which was also issued a notice for reproducing on September 22 some of Singhs statements to ANI. President Patil told me not to quit after row over date of birth,says V K Singh As the proceedings began,the bench raised questions over the content of Singhs affidavit in which he had tendered his unqualified apology saying if unwittingly due to erroneous reporting of my words,I have created an impression of making some objectionable imputation. The court asked senior advocate Ram Jethmalani,who appeared for Singh,to elaborate how he put the blame on erroneous reporting. How do you say that? Where was erroneous reporting? You have given two such interviews earlier too. If there was erroneous reporting then you should have taken a different course. If you say sorry,we will close down the case, the bench said. Referring to its 2012 verdict on Singhs age row,the court noted that it had then underlined that the government had the highest regard for him. However,it appears,in one of the interviews,he said that hostile lobbies were working on the judges. We are concerned with the majesty of the institution and you have assisted to hold its majesty rather than getting it in danger, the bench told Jethmalani. Responding,Jethmalani conceded that Singh may have used some ambiguous statements and he unconditionally apologized for it. I tender an unconditional apology if my clients apology is not sufficient, he added. The court retorted that if there were any other statements made by Singh at different times,all must be withdrawn. Jethmalani said that he was withdrawing all such statements that may have been made by Singh against the judiciary over the courts 2012 verdict on his age controversy. At this,Attorney General G E Vahanvati,who is assisting the court as amicus curiae,expressed his satisfaction over the counsels statements that Singh was willing to withdraw all his statements against the judiciary. Repentance is a tool which condones all sorts of misdemeanour. If the apology comes from the heart and that too from a senior advocate like Jethmalani,contempt proceedings are not to be pursued, the bench said. During the hearing,Jethmalani said he wanted to gift to the judges the autobiography of Singh,Courage and Conviction,which was published recently. However,the judges,who said they would be enlightened to read the experience of the former Army Chief,politely declined and said they would ask the apex court library to buy the book. Singh,who served in the Army for 42 years,described the judges as demigods in his apology. In spite of occasional criticism reported in isolated cases,I firmly believe that the judges are demigods compared to other departments of our public life. To attribute unworthy or illegitimate motives to the honble judges who dealt with my withdrawn petition on February 10,2012 was from my mind. I hold them in high respect and I hereby tender an unqualified apology., he had said in the affidavit.
