S Gurumurthy to appear before Delhi HC pursuant to DHCBA’s contempt Petition

Pursuant to the contempt petition filed by Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA), Chartered Accountant and Economic Analyst S Gurumurthy will appear before the Delhi High Court on December 11..After hearing the case for two consecutive days, Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal asked Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Gurumurthy, if Gurumurthy was willing to appear in person to apologize, so that the matter could be put to an end..Justice Siddharth Mridul, who heads the Bench, concurred with the opinion of Justice Sehgal and asked Jethmalani to seek instructions on the proposition..“If he expresses remorse and apologizes, it will go a long way. If you want to a determination on merit, it is your right.“, Justice Mridul said..Jethmalani submitted that although Gurumurthy has ‘no difficulty‘ in appearing before the Court, he firmly believes that his conduct could not be said to be in contempt of the Court..Justice Mridul, therefore, reiterated that Gurumurthy had “absolute right to defend himself“..“If he wants to appear in person and articulate, he should be given that opportunity.. Better hear it from the horse’s mouth.”, Justice Mridul further said..The Bench then proceeded to hear the submissions made by DHCBA President and Senior Advocate Kirti Uppal, while Jethmalani sought instructions from Gurumurthy on his appearance..The Bench was later informed that Gurumurthy would appear before the Court on December 11. Gurumurthy is likely to appear before the Bench in-chamber on the said date..Whether Gurumurthy would tender ‘an unconditional and unequivocal apology‘ for the alleged contempt committed by him, is still uncertain..When a Division Bench led by Justice S Muralidhar earlier granted bail to Karti Chidambaram in the INX Media bribery case, Gurumurthy had tweeted asking if Muralidhar J had been a junior to Karti Chidambaram’s father and Senior Advocate P Chidambaram..The Bench of Justices Muralidhar and Mehta thereafter had taken suo motu cognizance of the tweets. The Court, however, did not initiate contempt proceedings against Gurumurthy but had asked the Centre as to whether such posts can scandalize the legal profession and whether any remedial action needed to be taken. Gurumurthy, on his part, had deleted the controversial tweets..Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani was assisted by Advocates Ravi Sharma and Mohit Mudgal.