The Delhi High Court has concluded the criminal contempt proceedings against author Anand Ranganathan, a case that originated from tweets made in 2018 against former Justice Muralidhar. The division bench, consisting of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain, decided to close the case, noting that the original initiators of the contemptuous allegations, including RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, had already been discharged.
The case was related to tweets against Justice Muralidhar concerning an order he passed quashing the house arrest and transit remand of activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case. Gurumurthy and Agnihotri were discharged in 2019 and 2023, respectively, after they tendered unconditional apologies accepted by the court.
The bench observed that since the initiators of the contemptuous allegations had been discharged, continuing proceedings against other alleged contemnors like Ranganathan, who were not the originators of the allegations but merely supported the right to speech of those who initiated the tweets, would be a sheer wastage of judicial time.
“Therefore, we hereby close the proceedings,”
the court stated.
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Advocate J Sai Deepak, representing Ranganathan, argued that his client is a free speech absolutist and did not comment or post any tweet on the merits of the controversy against the judge. Deepak clarified that Ranganathan merely supported Gurumurthy’s right to comment and not the comment itself. He further stated,
“He (Ranganathan) has taken a position that he Gurumurthy may be right or wrong but he is entitled to take that position. Ranganathan has not commented on the conduct of the judge. There is nothing which he (Ranganathan) has said or done which interferes with the administration of justice. He is basically a bystander who is supporting someone’s right to raise his voice.”
The court also discharged Swarajya magazine after it tendered an unconditional apology by way of an affidavit. In April of the previous year, the court discharged filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, another contemnor in the matter, after he expressed his remorse and tendered an unconditional apology.
The proceedings were initiated after Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao wrote a letter to the court, stating that the tweet was a deliberate attempt to attack a sitting high court judge. In September 2022, the court had directed to proceed ex parte against Swarajya news portal, Anand Ranganathan, and others who did not appear in the matter.
This closure brings to an end a significant legal proceeding that highlighted the delicate balance between freedom of speech and respect for judicial authority. The case underscores the importance of responsible speech, especially in relation to the judiciary, while also reaffirming the value of free expression in a democratic society.
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