The Delhi High Court has closed its proceedings in criminal contempt case which was started against Dr. Anand Ranganathan and others in 2018 with relief provided to UAPA accused Gautam Navlakha by Justice S. Muralidhar.
The court found that people who levelled allegations on Justice Muralidhar,whether it was S Gurumurthy, Vivek Agnihotri, or the publication have long since discharged in the case after they tendered unconditional apologies.
The bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kaitand Manoj Jain said that in the affidavit which was filed by Ranganathan specifically stated that he had neither supported the publication published by S. Gurumurthy nor his view, but only the right to free speech, under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.
Court also noted that the editor of Swarajya Magazine had filed an affidavit and sought an unconditional apology, also that they had taken down the article long ago in 2018.
The Court ordered that since the person who alleged a sitting judge of this court has been discharged, it is a sheer waste of time to take any action against the rest of the contemnors. Therefore, we hereby close the proceedings.