SC asks ex-BCCI president Anurag Thakur to tender unconditional apology

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court rejected an apology filed by former Indian cricket board president Anurag Thakur to avoid being jailed for contempt and insisted that proceedings against him would be dropped only after he tendered an “unconditional, unequivocal and unqualified” apology.

Thakur was removed as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) by a bench of the top court led by former chief justice TS Thakur in January for consistently defying its orders to make the body’s functioning more transparent and accountable. The apolog y was sought after Thakur allegedly solicited the help of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to get the top court off the board’s back.

The bench found him prima facie guilty of contempt of court, ousted him and appointed a Committee of Administrators to run the BCCI. Thakur was asked to explain why he should not be convicted on these charges, which, if proved, would be punishable with a maximum jail term of six months. The top court subsequently initiated contempt proceedings against him for allegedly trying to solicit the ICC’s help to stymie the court’s orders.

The former BCCI chief apologised in writing, insisting that there was no attempt to mislead the court. However, a new bench led by Justice Dipak Misra, in line to succeed CJI JS Khehar when he demits office on August 28, refused to accept Thakur’s apology on Friday, saying it was “qualified.”

“File an unconditional apology, we will drop proceedings,” Justice Misra told additional solicitor general PS Patwalia, who appeared for Thakur.

Patwalia immediately agreed but insisted on explaining that there was only a miscommunication and Thakur never did anything wrong and had no intention to do so.

“There is no contempt or perjury,” he said, saying the issue had taken on this dimension due to a “slight lack of communication.” He tried to explain the miscommunication but the court was disinclined to hear him. Justice Misra expressed his reluctance to accept any qualified apology and asked him to tender a fresh, unqualified apology to the court.

“Any apology must be unequivocal,” Justice Misra said. He adjourned the case for further hearing next Friday and asked for Thakur to be present in court.