Delhi High Court on Monday discharged filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri from contempt charges after he appeared and tendered an unconditional apology in connection with a criminal contempt case over his remarks in Twitter against Justice S Muralidhar. Accepting his apology, a Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Vikas Mahajan cautioned him to remain careful in the future.
In 2018, the filmmaker had put out tweets alleging bias against Justice S Muralidhar, who was then a judge of the Delhi High Court and is currently the chief justice of the Orissa High Court, as he had released rights activist Gautam Navlakha from house arrest in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case. Subsequently, contempt of court proceedings were initiated against Agnihotri and others by the high court.
The High Court recalled the criminal contempt notice issued to him and noted that an affidavit filed by Agnihotri also reflected the regret and remorse unconditionally expressed by him to the court. “In view of the circumstances that Vivek Agnihotri stated that he has utmost respect for the institution of judiciary and did not intend to wilfully offend the majesty of this court, the notice to show cause issued to him is hereby recalled. Vivek Agnihotri stands discharged as the alleged contemnor,” the bench said.