Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri is also one of the contemnors in the case.
Agnihotri had put out tweets alleging bias against Justice S Muralidhar as the judge had granted relief to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Pursuant to the tweets, contempt of court proceedings was initiated against Agnihotri. Ranganathan, Swarajya magazine and several others had also posted similar content on Twitter.
The Court had in September this year decided to proceed ex-parte against Agnihotri, Ranganathan and Swarajya noting that they were not represented.
In the previous hearing on December 6, 2022, Agnihotri had expressed unconditional apology for his remarks. An affidavit to that effect was filed by Agnihotri withdrawing his statement against the judge and tendering his apology.
He had also moved an application to recall the order of ex-parte hearing and seeking permission to participate in the proceedings.
However, the bench had insisted that Agnihotri remain present personally in court for the hearing.
“We are asking him (Agnihotri) to remain present because he is the contemnor. Does he have any difficulty if he has to express remorse in person? The remorse cannot always be expressed by way of an affidavit,” Justice Mridul had remarked.
Source: Barandbench
