Kochi: The Kerala High Court Tuesday said the counter affidavit filed by film director Baiju Kottarakkara in the suo motu contempt proceedings neither affirmed that he made those comments nor refuted it.
Contempt proceedings were initiated against Baiju after he made abusive remarks against a trial court judge, who is presiding over the trial of 2017 actor abduction and assault case, during a TV debate.
The court granted Biju three more weeks to make his stance clear and sought a fresh affidavit on the charges against him.
While hearing the case, the division bench comprising Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Mohammed Nias CP said that none of the statements made by the filmmaker during the discussion could be found in the reply.
The court said that it wanted to know exactly what had been said by the filmmaker, and the same had to be made clear on record.
Granting three more weeks to furnish evidence, the court cautioned the director's counsel against playing hide and seek with it.
"You are entitled to deny the statements, but then we will proceed with the case. If you're not admitting to the statements made, we can proceed... Either you can admit that you did say these and tender apology, or you can deny and we can go ahead with the trial," the court said.
It said that if the filmmaker was going to tender an apology, it must be a public one. He should also give an undertaking that he would never make such remarks again, the court said.
The court clarified it was not against discussions on news channels. However, it cautioned that adverse remarks such as the one he made on TV discussion ought to be treated with circumspection, and not to be aired, lest it shakes public confidence in the institution.
"Do you know what you're doing to this judicial institution and public faith?...There's nothing that you can say about the judiciary which is good. For that matter any democratic institution...You must ignite the people's faith in these democratic institutions if we are to survive here," the court said.
"Public confidence and black robes, this is all that a judge has. There's nothing else that sustains us here," it added.
The matter has now been posted for November 15.
(With LiveLaw inputs)