Anthem row: Plea against Murthy dismissed

CMN Bureau

NEW DELHI, INDIA: A three-Judge Supreme Court Bench on Monday dismissed a special leave petition against Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy for allegedly dishonoring the National Anthem at a function held on April 8, 2007, at the Mysore campus of the IT behemoth.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices C K Thakker and R V Raveendran upheld the Karnataka High Court decision to quash criminal proceedings against Murthy.

The Bench, however, did not approve of the dropping of the National Anthem. "We do not approve that singing of National Anthem should be dropped because of presence of foreign nationals and that it could offend them. But there is no offence made out under the National Honour Act," the Bench observed.

The Kannada Rakshana Vedike in its petition contested that the National Anthem was cancelled at the function since foreign dignitaries were also present at the function. Former president A P J Abdul Kalam was the chief guest at the function.

Instrumental version of the anthem was played at the Infosys function in April. “We had originally planned to field five employees to sing the anthem before and after the function. As over 100 interns from Malaysia were also present on the occasion, we decided to play the anthem to avoid any embarrassment to the overseas trainees, who were not acquainted with it and would have remained mute spectators,” Murthy had reportedly told the media when asked why the anthem was not sung.