‘Had Katju dared to joke on other societies, scene would have been different’

Bhubaneswar: Criticism poured in from all quarters of the society today over the Facebook post of former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju on Odias.

Describing the situation to be ‘different’ had Justice Katju made comments on people of other States like the one on Odias, former Police Commissioner of Mumbai Arup Patnaik said, “The motive of the honourable person (Katju) to let down one race with such sarcastic remarks should be found out. Had the honourable person given such comments against the Jat of Haryana, Marathas of Mumbai, Uddhav Thackeray or Raj Thackeray, the situations could be imagined easily.”
Patnaik asked, “Why we (Odias) are targeted with this joke? Are we Santa Banta?”

The former senior police official continued, “He (Katju) believes by giving such statements he would grab the limelight.”

“If a case has been registered against the person (Katju), cognisance should be taken and the matter should be followed-up with the help of a good lawyer. The person against whom the complaint has been lodged should undergo a custodial interrogation. I believe some concrete action is required at the moment.”

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Katju received a flower bouquet and a "get well soon" card from the Delhi Odia Students Association. This was informed by Katju himself through a facebook post.
Katju, who had dubbed Odias as "poor" and "humorless" in his earlier post, announced he has changed his opinion on Odias.

"While earlier I regarded most of you as stupid and humourless, now I regard you as smart and with a sense of humour (as all intelligent people have). And my perception about you changed suddenly due to an event which happened in the last half an hour or so," Katju wrote.

Also read: Justice Katju apologises for Facebook comments on Odias

Narrating the event, Katju said: "I was having lunch with my wife a short while back at my residence in Noida, when my servant informed me that some young men had come to meet me."

"I told him to allow the young men to enter, and ask them to be seated in my sitting room till I have finished lunch. The domestic help went out, and within a minute came back with a large beautiful bouquet of flowers, and a note. He said that the young men had just given this bouquet and note to him, and gone away," Katju said.

Later, Katju narrated that he handed the bouquet to his wife, who was delighted, as all ladies are, to get flowers, and then glanced at the note.

"These were the words written on it: ‘Get well soon Mr Katju. Jai Jagannath. Delhi Odia Students Association’,” wrote Katju.