I am a free speech absolutist; did not make comments against Justice Muralidhar: Anand Ranganathan to Delhi High Court

Scientist and author Anand Ranganathan appeared before the Delhi High Court on Wednesday and asserted his position as a 'free speech absolutist.'.A Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh was hearing a suo motu contempt case initiated against Ranganathan and others for their tweets on former Delhi High Court judge and current Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, Justice S Muralidhar for granting bail to activist Gautam Navlakha..The Bench sought to know whether Ranganathan had expressed remorse for his statements.In response, Advocate J Sai Deepak, representing Ranganathan, claimed that Ranganathan's remarks were not directed at the judge's decision to grant bail to Navlakha, but rather expressed his opposition to the power of contempt of court. He added that he would file an affidavit to clarify his position..Justice Mridul then sought clarification on whether Ranganathan was unwilling to apologize, to which Deepak explained that his client considered himself a proponent of free speech and had not repeated the alleged contemptuous statement."He has not repeated. He says he is a free speech absolutist," he said.The judge then responded,"So he makes a general statement? Oh! wonderful. So he is a conscientious objector to power of contempt?".Ranganathan then addressed the Court, emphasizing that he had not made any comments about Justice Muralidhar, but had merely expressed support for S Gurumurthy..The Court then read out the tweet posted by Ranganathan, leading to a discussion among the judges. It ultimately said in its order,"He prays for and is granted four weeks time to file affidavit. We are not saying anything further about his appearance.".At the end of the hearing, Justice Mridul acknowledged the importance of free speech, but also noted that there are occasions when individuals regret their statements after making them.When Deepak emphasized that Ranganathan always speaks based on facts, Justice Mridul said,"We were informed that he said he would go down fighting."Ranganathan then denied making such a statement, prompting the Court to say,"Alright, so long as we are clear on facts.".The case was adjourned to October 11..Apart from Ranganathan, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri as well as RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy were made party to the case. However, they were discharged after they tendered unconditional apologies..Vivek Agnihotri tenders unconditional apology to Delhi High Court for remark against Justice S Muralidhar.[Read our live coverage of the hearing]