Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri Discharged In Contempt Case Related To Orissa HC Chief Justice

New Delhi: A division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Vikas Mahajan recalled the show cause notice for initiating proceedings of criminal contempt against filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri after he tender an unconditional apology before the Delhi High Court on Monday.

He was also discharged as alleged contemner in the case related to remarks made against Justice S Muralidhar, currently the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, on microblogging platform Twitter in 2018.

“He states that he has utmost respect for institution of judiciary and didn’t intend to wilfully offend the majesty of court,” the court noted and cautioned the filmmaker against making similar remarks in future.

In 2018, Agnihotri made allegations of bias in a tweet against the Chief Justice, who was then serving as a judge of the High Court for quashing the order of house arrest and transit remand of activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case.

In December last year, Agnihotri had tendered an “unconditional apology” to the Delhi High Court for his remarks after which the court asked him to remain present on March 16 to “show remorse in person.”

However, the filmmaker appeared via video conferencing on Thursday and said that he had fever. The court then listed the matter for April 10.