Congress MP retracts statement on bribing SC judge

Under pressure from his party over his 'anti-judiciary' remark, Congress Member of Parliament K Sudhakaran has retracted his earlier statement about witnessing a Supreme Court judge being bribed in a bar licence case years ago.

In a surprising u-turn, Sudhakaran told a television channel that he didn't actually see the judge taking the bribe, but had definite information that the money was given to a judge by bar owners to get a favourable decision in the bar licence case.

But television footage of his speech at Kottarakkara, telecast by local channels last week, showed him saying that he was witness to an apex court judge taking bribe.

Sudhakaran's statement sparked a raging controversy and he found himself virtually isolated within the party, with the Congress leadership distancing itself from his statement. Acting on his claim, a case was registered against Sudhakaran in a police station for concealing facts about a wrong-doing he had witnessed.

There had been sufficient indications that Sudhakaran was under severe pressure when he stated at a press meet on Thursday, "My intention was not to attack the judiciary, but to express concern over unhealthy trends among certain sections of judicial officers."

Sudhakaran said he will write to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain his position, though nobody had sought any explanation from him.

Sudhakaran made his controversial speech at a public meeting in Kottarakkara last Saturday. He claimed that he was witness to the bribing of a Supreme Court judge in a bar licence case years ago.

Sudhakaran, who represents Kannur in the Lok Sabha, made the claim without naming the judge at a function organised to extend moral support to Kerala Congress-B leader R Balakrishna Pillai, who was recently sentenced to one year imprisonment by the Supreme Court in a corruption case.