Contempt case: Delhi HC directs film director Vivek Agnihotri to appear personally

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed film director Vivek Agnihotri to appear in person on 10 April in a matter related to a tweet that he posted in 2018 about Justice S Muralidhar, who had quashed the transit remand of activist Gautam Navlakha.

The division bench, comprising Justices Sidharth Mridul and Talwant Singh, directed Agnihotri to appear in person on April 10. The bench also took note of the order of 6 December, when Agnihotri was directed to appear before the court. On the last hearing on 6 December, Agnihotri tendered his unconditional apology for the tweets he posted in 2018.

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

The counsel for Agnihotri submitted that Agnihotri is 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 convicted. Does he have any difficulty expressing remorse in person? The remorse cannot always be expressed by way of an affidavit.”