Vivek Agnihotri appears before HC, tenders unconditional apology

Accepting his apology, a Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Vikas Mahajan discharged Agnihotri of the contempt charge and cautioned him to remain careful in the future

New Delhi: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri appeared before the Delhi High Court on Monday and tendered an unconditional apology in connection with a criminal contempt case over his alleged remarks against a judge of the court. Accepting his apology, a Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Vikas Mahajan discharged Agnihotri of the contempt charge and cautioned him to remain careful in the future. The High Court recalled the criminal contempt notice issued to him and noted that an affidavit filed by Agnihotri also reflected the regret and remorse unconditionally expressed by him to the court.

“In view of the circumstances that Vivek Agnihotri stated that he has utmost respect for the institution of judiciary and did not intend to wilfully offend the majesty of this court, the notice to show cause issued to him is hereby recalled. Vivek Agnihotri stands discharged as the alleged contemnor,” the Bench said. “Mr. Agnihotri we will be cautioning you to be careful in future,” the Bench told the filmmaker who appeared before the court in pursuance of its earlier direction. In 2018, the filmmaker had put out tweets alleging bias against Justice S Muralidhar, who was then a judge of the Delhi High Court and is currently the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, as he had released rights activist Gautam Navlakha from house arrest in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case.

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Subsequently, contempt of court proceedings were initiated against Agnihotri and others by the High Court. On December 6 last year, the court asked the filmmaker to “show remorse in person” after he tendered an unconditional apology through an affidavit.