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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday closed proceedings in the suo-motu criminal contempt case initiated against Dr. Anand Ranganathan and others in 2018 in connection with relief provided by Justice S. Muralidhar to UAPA-accused Gautam Navlakha.

The court noted that S Gurumurthy, Vivek Agnihotri, and the publication Drishtikone, which levelled allegations against Justice Muralidhar, have already been "discharged" in the case after they tendered unconditional apologies.

The bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain said, "It is not in dispute that S. Gurumurthy (now Respondent No. 2) supported the articles published by Respondent No. 3, and thereafter the other respondents 13 (Anand Ranganathan) and 14 (Editor of Swarajya Magazine) also supported the right to speech of the said contemnor."

The court said that in the affidavit filed by Ranganathan  he had specifically stated that he had neither supported the publication published by S. Gurumurthy nor his view, he only supported the right to free speech, which was enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution of India. 

It also noted that the editor of Swarajya Magazine had filed an affidavit and sought an unconditional apology, which took down the article long ago in 2018.

"Since the initiator of the contemptuous allegations of a sitting judge of this court has been discharged,. In our considered opinion, this further is a sheer waste of time to take any action against the rest of the contemnors. Therefore, we hereby close the proceedings," the court ordered.

Background

The matter pertains to the tweets allegedly made in support of an article written by S Gurumurthy against the judgment setting aside the transit remand order against Bhima Koregaon Violence accused Gautam Navlakha in 2018.

It is to be noted that on October 29, 2018, the high court issued criminal contempt notices against Gurumurthy and others for tweeting the article alleging that Justice S. Muralidhar was biased in passing the order releasing Gautam Navlakha from house arrest.

The court had issued the notice after receiving a letter from Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao alleging contempt. The article tweeted by Gurumurthy was titled, "Why has Delhi High Court Justice Muralidhar's relationship with Gautam Navlakha not been disclosed?" However, on October 14, 2019, the Delhi High Court removed Gurumurthy from the list of respondents in contempt matter after he issued an apology.

In September 2022, the high court proceeded against Dr. Anand Ranganathan, Vivek Agnihotri, and Swarajya magazine ex-parte after nobody appeared for them in the matter. 

Case Title: Court in its Own Motion v. S. Gurumurthy