Author Anand Ranganathan appearing before the Delhi High Court in a suo motu criminal contempt case. Ranganathan referred to himself as a "free speech absolutist" and stated that he did not comment or post any tweet about Justice S Muralidhar. The case relates to tweets made in 2018 concerning Justice Muralidhar's order in the Bhima Koregaon case.

A division bench consisting of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh of the Delhi High Court was hearing a suo motu criminal contempt case. The court had initiated this case on its own in 2018

During the hearing, Ranganathan's counsel clarified that the tweet in question was not related to the issue at hand and stated that an affidavit would be filed to make the position clear. Ranganathan personally addressed the court, expressing his honor to be present and reiterating that he did not comment on what the judge said.

Justice Siddharth Mridul responded by stating that as long as Ranganathan's words were not scandalous, he was free to say anything, highlighting the court's support for free speech. The court granted Ranganathan four weeks to file his response and indicated that they would not comment further on his appearance.

The court had previously been informed that Ranganathan had stated in a tweet that he would not apologize and would go down fighting, but Ranganathan denied making such a statement. Justice Mridul accepted Ranganathan's clarification.

The matter is scheduled to be heard again on October 11.

The proceedings were initiated after a letter from Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao claimed that the tweet was a deliberate attempt to attack a sitting high court judge. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, another party involved in the case, was discharged earlier after appearing in person, expressing remorse, and offering an unconditional apology.

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.

Case Title: "Court In Its Own v. S Gurumurthy"