KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed for six weeks further proceedings in the case regarding alleged disrespect to the National Anthem by Shashi Tharoor MP. The case is pending before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM). Justice B P Ray passed the order while considering a petition filed by Tharoor, challenging the order of the ACJM. The magistrate had earlier dismissed a petition filed by Tharoor, requesting the court to summon the Compact Disk (CD) which contains the visuals of the controversial meeting, where he allegedly showed disrespect to the National Anthem. The court also issued notice to the state government and the State Human Rights Protection Centre general secretary Joy Kaitharath. Tharoor contented that the magistrate court failed to exercise the discretion vested in it and the accused has no right to tender evidence at this stage. ‘’The magistrate has misunderstood the scope of the application and rejected the same citing that the accused had no right to produce evidence at the stage of evidence collection,’’ he submitted. According to the private complaint against the MP filed by Kaitharath, Tharoor, after delivering the Hormis Memorial Lecture on December 16, 2008, interrupted the rendition of the National Anthem and urged the audience to place their palms over the heart as the Americans do, instead of the attention posture. Earlier, the court had found that prima facie Tharoor had committed offences under Section 3 of Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act 1971.
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