New Delhi: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has tendered an unconditional apology to the Delhi High Court for commenting on the decision of a former Delhi High Court judge and current Orissa High Court Chief Justice, S. Muralidhar, in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. A bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh directed Agnihotri to appear before the court on the next hearing.
However, a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh insisted that Agnihotri be present in person for the hearing. The court deferred the hearing after recording the submissions of Agnihotri's counsel that the film director would remain personally present on March 16th 2023, to tender his apology. The Court observed, "We are asking him to remain present because he is contemnor. Does he have any difficulty if he has to express remorse in person? The remorse cannot always be expressed by way of an affidavit."
Agnihotri had tweeted alleging bias against Justice S. Muralidhar after the judge granted relief to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. As per the tweets, contempt of court proceedings were initiated against Agnihotri. In September 2022, the court decided to take ex-parte action against Agnihotri and other contemnors, Anand Ranganathan and a news portal, noting that the contemnors were not represented.
Agnihotri then filed an affidavit apologizing unconditionally. He also moved an application seeking withdrawal of the order of ex parte hearing and permission to participate in the proceedings. Agnihotri said in his affidavit that he had deleted his tweets against the judge. When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, senior advocate Arvind Nigam, Amicus Curiae, said that the statement presented by Agnihotri could be wrong, because according to Twitter's affidavit, it may have been the social media platform that removed Agnihotri's tweet and not Agnihotri herself.
Agnihotri's counsel told the court that the contemnor would appear in person for the next hearing, following which the court adjourned the hearing. 70-year-old Navlakha, one of the several civil liberties activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for an alleged conspiracy to topple the government. (With agency inputs)
