Vivek Agnihotri Appears Before Delhi High Court In Criminal Contempt Case

'The Kashmir Files' maker had earlier on March 16 tendered his unconditional apology for the tweets he posted in 2018, about Justice S Murlidhar who had quashed transit remand of Gautam Navlakha.

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New Delhi: Film Director Vivek Agnihotri appeared before the Delhi High Court on Monday in a suo motu criminal contempt matter in relation to a tweet that he posted in 2018, about Justice S Murlidhar who had quashed transit remand of Gautam Navlakha.

On the last date of the hearing, the court directed Vivek Agnihotri to appear before it in person. On December 6, Vivek Agnihotri had tendered his unconditional apology for the tweets he posted in 2018. The bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Vikas Mahajan noted Agnihotri's appearance and noted that he has made an unconditional apology and expressed his remorse. Court further noted that he also tenders an unconditional apology for his allegedly offensive statement on Twitter. He accordingly stands discharged. The court also cautioned for to be more careful in future. 

Earlier on March 16, the bench also took note of the order of December 6 when Agnihotri was directed to appear before the court. On the last hearing on December 6, Agnihotri tendered his unconditional apology for the tweets he posted in 2018.

The bench had asked Agnihotri to remain present in the next hearing. This contempt case was initiated by the court sou moto against Agnihotri and Reserve Bank of India Governor S Gurumurthy.

The counsel for Agnihotri submitted that Agnihotri was down with a fever and thus was not able to appear before the court. Thereafter, the bench asked him to appear physically on the next date.

Agnihotri's counsel had submitted through an affidavit that the tweets were deleted by his client. On the other hand, amicus curiae opposed the submission saying that the tweets were deleted by the social platform Twitter, not by him.

The bench had said, "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 express by way of an affidavit."