Nawab Malik tenders unconditional apology to Bombay High Court for breach of undertaking

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharasthra minister Nawab Malik has tendered an unconditional apology to the Bombay High Court for making statements in violation of his oral undertaking before the Court in the case related to NCB Zonal Director, Sameer Wankhede and his father Dhyandev Wankhede..Malik had given an undertaking before a Division Bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav on November 25 that he will refrain from making any defamatory statements against Dhayndev Wankhede and his family members till an interim application filed in Wankhede's defamation suit is reheard by a single-judge of the High Court.However, Wankehde had later approached the bench claiming that certain statements subsequently made by Malik were in breach of the November 25 undertaking given by the minister.The Court had then sought Malik's response to Wankehde's submission..In his 3-page affidavit tendered to the Court on Friday, Malik stated that the statements and comments were neither press releases or statements issued by him or on his behalf. He said that the statements were made during the course of an interview with journalists on a large number of topics over a considerable period of time. During such interviews, the journalists had asked for specific questions and in response to that Malik had made such statements, his affidavit stated.The responses made in the course of interviews were made with a belief that they were not hit by the undertaking given by him to the High Court. .Malik made a categorical statement in the affidavit that hereafter "even if further questions are posed to him by the media in respect of Dhyandev Wankhede or his family, he shall not respond or give any comment on it."Malik clarified, however, that the statement recorded in the order of the High Court will not prevent him from commenting on the political misuse of central agencies and the conduct of their officers in the course of their duties hereafter..Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf, appearing for Wankhede, raised an objection to the final clarification line, where Malik took liberty to comment on the performance of duties. Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy stated categorically that Malik will not be commenting on the personal life of the family members, including on their caste, religion, or holidays. He stated that as an officer, Malik had a right to speak on the duties of another public officer. .While the Bench took on record the affidavit of Malik, they commented that as a minister, Malik ought to use proper forums to raise grievances. "He is a minister not a layman. You also knows and we also know what this is," the Bench commented. .The dispute between Dhyandev Wankhede and Malik arose when the former filed a defamation suit after the latter had shared Sameer Wankhede’s purported birth certificate on his Twitter handle, while allegedly imputing that Wankhede’s father was a Muslim and his name was ‘Dawood’..Malik had, in the last week of November, submitted a proposal to the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the interim order which, even though in his favour, contained adverse observations against him.After Wankhede accepted the proposal, the High Court quashed and set aside the single-judge order on November 29 and remanded the interim application for hearing before another single-Judge..Malik had then given an undertaking before the Division Bench on November 25 to refrain from making any defamatory statements Malik's apololgy came in response to the direction of the Court asking him to explain why a contempt of court notice should not be issued for deliberately breaching his November 25 statement to Court..Saraf appeared with advocates Divakar Rai, RS Rane, Nitin Rai, Bhavika Solanki, Saurabh Tamhankar for Wankhede. Chinoy was briefed by advocates Karl Tamboly, Shraddha Dube Patil, Komal Bhoir instructed by Jay and Co. for Malik.