The Delhi High Court has closed the contempt of court case against RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy, accepting his apology and expression of remorse. A Division Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Gaurang Kanth discharged Gurumurthy after he filed a written reply and appeared in person to express his deep regret for his tweets regarding former Delhi High Court judge and current Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, Justice S Muralidhar.

The case stemmed from a speculative tweet by Gurumurthy in which he questioned whether Justice Muralidhar had been a junior to former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram. Justice Muralidhar clarified that he had never worked as a junior to Chidambaram, prompting the court to take cognizance of the tweet.

The Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) subsequently filed a criminal contempt petition against Gurumurthy in 2018. However, considering the matter's prolonged pendency of five years, the court urged both parties to put an end to the issue.

Senior Advocate Rakesh Tiku, representing DHCBA, informed the bench that Gurumurthy had expressed his apology in his reply, leading to the court's decision to close the case. The bench clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on the legal issues raised by the parties and left them open for determination in an appropriate proceeding.

Justice Mridul also emphasized that the court and judges do not rely on newspaper reports or tweets for their dignity, as their dignity rests on more substantial grounds. He stated, "Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. Unnecessarily dragging an honorable judge's name into all this controversy, reported all the time. Whatever for? Surely, you don't think we rely on newspaper reports and tweets for our dignity? Our dignity rests on surer footing. We are not dependent on criticism, fair or unfair, for our dignity."

The case title: DELHI HIGH COURT BAR ASSOCIATION THROUGH ITS SECRETARY v. S. GURUMURTHY.