Vivek Agnihotri Tenders Unconditional Apology Before Delhi High Court For Remarks Against Justice Muralidhar

Film Director Vivek Agnihotri has tendered an unconditional apology before the Delhi High Court for his remarks against Justice S. Muralidhar in respect of the judge's order quashing the order of house arrest and transit remand of activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case.

The court had initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings in the matter in 2018.

A division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh allowed an application moved by Agnihotri seeking permission to appear and participating in the suo motu proceedings. This comes after the court had earlier directed to proceed ex parte against Agnihotri, Swarajya news portal and Anand Ranganathan.

The court thus adjourned the hearing to March 16, 2023 asking him to remain present in person on the said date.

During the hearing today, the court was informed by the amicus curiae that there is a variance in the affidavit filed by Agnihotri and the response of Twitter. 

As per the amicus curiae, while Agnihotri had claimed that he had taken down the tweets, Twitter in its response has said that the tweets were taken down by the microblogging platform.

Agnihotri's counsel told court that he will take appropriate instructions as to the date on which the tweets were blocked.

The matter will now be heard on March 16, 2023.