New Delhi: In an interim order on Monday (December 16) the Supreme Court directed that Carnatic singer T.M. Krishna should not be recognised as a recipient of the The Hindu Sangita Kalanidhi M.S. Subbulakshmi Award.
The Supreme Court’s order came just a day after Krishna was conferred the award instituted by The Hindu and awarded by the Music Academy, reported The Hindu.
A bench of Supreme Court Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti passed the interim order on the plea of V. Shrinivasan, a resident of Bengaluru who claimed to be the grandson of late singer M.S. Subbulakshmi.
The award was conferred to Krishna after a division bench of the Madras high court on Friday (December 13) had set aside the interim injunction granted by a single judge, that restrained the Music Academy and The Hindu from giving away the award to him.
“It must be clear that the Music Academy has a glorious legacy. Their contribution in the world of music is universally recognised. The same is also the reputation of The Hindu Group. The interim order should not be seen as a reflection on either the Music Academy or The Hindu or a comment on the singing ability of T.M. Krishna,” the Supreme Court said, staying the Madras high court’s order.
The counsel for petitioner Shrinivasan had alleged that Krishna had made “nauseating” and “misogynistic” comments about M.S. Subbulakshmi, who had passed away in 2004. The petitioner argued that the person who had “insulted” the legendary singer should not get an award conferred in her name.
The counsels for Krishna and the other respondents denied that the singer had ever termed M.S. Subbulakshmi as the “the greatest hoax” in articles written by him and instead, many others had described her as thus, while Krishna’s article in question was an attempt to bust this myth.
Justice Bhatti said it was “definitely within the power and the prerogative” of the executive committee of the Music Academy to select the awardee, but “till we are clear that Mr. Krishna did not mean anything when he got the articles published, he is not supposed to have the award in the name of the person he is supposed to have disrespected”.
He added that the Carnatic vocalist had in the past chosen to justify his alleged comments and articles instead of retracting them.
“This is a very, very important and sensitive issue,” said Justice Bhatti.
