Tweet against Justice S Muralidhar: Delhi High Court to proceed with case after S Gurumurthy says he will not file a fresh apology affidavit

RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that he will not filed a second affidavit tendering an 'unconditional apology' for his tweet against former Delhi High Court judge and serving Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, Justice S Muralidhar. .Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appeared for Gurumurthy today and stated that the tweet was deleted after the court took cognisance and the judge clarified the position. The senior counsel further said that an affidavit has already been filed in the case by Gurumurthy tendering apology. .A division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh noted that the affidavit filed did not contain any apology and that if the alleged contemnor files an affidavit with a two-line apology, the court can put quietus to the issue. “I am sorry, but this is not an apology. File a two-line apology and put a quietus to this. Say it on affidavit and the matter ends,” Justice Talwant Singh remarked. Jethmalani responded that there was no intention to commit the contempt and that Gurumurthy even appeared before Justice Mridul led bench. The Court, however, stressed that Gurumurthy can express remorse on an affidavit and the matter will end. Jethmalani then said his client will not be filing another affidavit. .The bench, therefore, said that it will hear the issue on merits. The case relates to Gurumurthy's speculative tweet where he asked if Justice Muralidhar had been a junior to former union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram.The tweet came after a bench led by Justice Muralidhar restrained Enforcement Directorate from taking any coercive action against P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram.Justice Muralidhar led bench took cognisance of the tweet and clarified that he has never worked as a junior to Chidambaram.The Court further said it for the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta (as he was then) and the Bar to consider whether such tweets call for action in accordance with law.The Delhi High Court Bar Associations (DHCBA) then filed a criminal contempt petition against GurumurthyJustice Mridul today said that besides hearing the issue on merits, the Court will also consider the issue of whether the DHCBA is competent to initiate such proceedings. "Mr Mahesh Jethmalani, learned senior counsel appears for Mr Gurumruthy and states that he has obtained instructions from the latter and it is their position that he has already tendered his apology in relation to the subject tweet and therefore there is no necessity for him to file a further affidavit expressing an unconditional apology in clear terms. List for futher proceeindgs on July 6," the Court ordered.Besides Jethmalani, advocate Ravi Sharma also appeared for Gurumurthy. .Interestingly, this is not the first criminal contempt against Gurumurthy.The Delhi High Court had initiated a suo motu case against him for retweeting an article levelling certain allegations against Justice Muralidhar after he granted bail to Bhima Koregaon case accused Gautam Navlakha. Gurumurthy had later withdrawn his tweet and was, therefore, discharged in that case.