New Delhi:The Delhi High Court on Monday discharged film director Vivek Agnihotri after he appeared in person before it and tendered his apology in connection with a tweet he had posted in 2018 about former Delhi High Court judge and current Orissa High Court chief justice S Murlidhar. The court has also cautioned him to be more careful with his remarks in the future.
The bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Vikas Mahajan took note of the unconditional apology that Agnihotri had tendered on December 6 for posting the tweet. It also mentioned that Agnihotri was present in the court to reiterate his remorse over his remarks.
On the last date of hearing in December 2022, Agnihotri had tendered his apology and the court had asked him to be present at the next hearing. On March 16, Agnihotri's counsel submitted before court that the director was sick and so could not appear in person. He also submitted through an affidavit that his client had deleted the tweets. This, however was opposed by the amicus curiae, saying the posts were deleted by Twitter and not the director. The court noted his apology and asked him to appear before it in the next hearing listed on April 10. The bench had then stated that remorse cannot always be expressed through an affidavit. Following which, the director appeared before court today.
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It may be recalled that the court had initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings after many social media users commented against Justice Muralidhar for granting bail to activist Gautam Navlakha. Apart from Agnihotri, similar content was posted on the social media by Anand Ranganathan, Swarajya magazine and others.
