The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri to appear in Court on April 10 in connection with the 2018 suo motu criminal contempt proceedings initiated against him and many others for remarks made against Judge S. Muralidhar.
In 2018, Agnihotri allegedly accused Justice Muralidhar, former judge of the High Court and current Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, of bias in a tweet on the judge’s ruling quashing the order of house arrest and transit remand of activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Agnihotri tendered an “unconditional apology” before the court in December last year for his statements, and the court urged him to remain present to “express remorse in person.”
Agnihotri’s counsel informed a division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh today that the filmmaker had previously made an unconditional apology but was unable to appear in court due to a high fever.
“What does the preceding order state? When is he going to arrive? “Tell us, we’ll have it then,” the court instructed Agnihotri’s counsel.
The Court added, “We’re not asking. We’ve directed you (to remain present). There is no question.”
After the court scheduled a hearing on a similar petition filed by the Delhi High Court Bar Association for April 10, Agnihotri’s counsel agreed that the suo motu proceedings would be scheduled on the same day and that the director would be remain present on that day.
“He (Vivek Agnihotri) is granted exemption for today on the ground that he is indisposed. He undertakes to appear on the next date,” the court said while adjourning the matter.
“He (Vivek Agnihotri) has been granted exemption for today on the grounds that he is indisposed. He agrees to appear on the next date,” the court remarked as it adjourned the case.
While counsel for another accused contemner, Anand Ranganathan, notified the court that his client is eager to participate in the proceedings, Amicus Curiae Senior Advocate Arvind Nigam submitted that Ranganathan had tweeted that he will never apologise for his tweets.
“He (Ranganathan) stated he will never apologise and that he will go down fighting,” Nigam told court.
When Judge Mridul heard this, he said, “Why? This is not a civil war?”
The court ordered an ex parte proceeding against Swarajya news outlet, Anand Ranganathan, and those who did not attend in the case in September 2022.
The investigation was launched after Senior Counsel Rajshekhar Rao filed a letter with the court claiming that the tweet was a premeditated attempt to insult a sitting high court judge.
Earlier, Agnihotri informed the Court that he had removed the offending tweet. Nevertheless, amicus curiae Senior Advocate Arvind Nigam informed the court that Twitter had said in its answer that the tweets had been removed by the microblogging network.
