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IN

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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(CRL) 739/2018
KARTI P CHIDAMBARAM ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Kapil Sibal, Mr. Mohit Mathur,
Mr. Dayan Krishan, Senior Advocates
with Mr. Aishdeep Singh, Mr. Adit
Pujati, Ms. Aakashi Lodha and Mr.
Aditya Chpra, Advocates.
versus

THE DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT & ANR ... Respondents

Through: Mr. Tushar Mehta, Additional
Solicitor General with Mr. D.P.
Singh, Mr. Amit Mahajan, Advocates
for R-1.
CORAM: JUSTICE S. MURALIDHAR
JUSTICE I.S. MEHTA
ORDER
% 12.03.2018
1. The Court has, suo motu, taken up this matter on Board at 2.15 pm.

2. Within a few hours of the order in the present writ petition on

9th March 2018, a twitter handle @sgurumurthy tweeted the following
mischievous poser that read: "Is it true that Justice Muralidhar who decided
the Karthi petition today was a junior under PC?".

3. The profile associated with the above twitter handle is of Mr. S.

Gurumurthy who describes himself as: “CA by profession. Writer on
political, economic issues by choice. Editor Thuglak by destiny”. This
twitter handle has a following of 2,59,000. The above innuendo laden tweet
of Mr Gurumurthy triggered an avalanche of reactions from those following

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him on twitter. Many of the comments, which are not worth reproducing,
while reacting to the misinformation, scandalised the Judge presiding over
this Bench and questioned the integrity of the judiciary as a whole.

4. Being the editor of a magazine that has a wide readership in Tamil Nadu,
had Mr. S. Gurumurthy cared to check, he could easily have ascertained that
the presiding Judge of this Bench was as a junior of Mr. G. Ramswamy, who
then was the Additional Solicitor General of India and who later was the
Attorney General for India. At no time did the presiding Judge work as a
junior to Mr. P. Chidambaram, Senior Advocate, the father of the Petitioner.
It is unfortunate that despite some of the tweets in response clarifying the
correct factual position, Mr. Gurumurthy chose not to withdraw his
mischievous and false tweet.

5. While the Court acknowledges that such tweets that spread false and
scandalous information are, as pointed out by Mr. Tushar Mehta, learned
ASG, “best ignored”, this twitter handle of Mr. S. Gurumurthy has 2,59,000
followers. Misinformation on social media unfortunately spreads like
wildfire. The Court, therefore, considered it necessary to place on record the
correct facts.

6. In a tweet immediately following the above tweet of his, Mr. S.

Gurumurthy posted the following comment:
“It is sad that the SC directed the Delhi HC to hear the Karthi
case instantly today (saying if not Karthi may be arrested by
ED) clearly hinting that he had to be protected. And the HC
protected him, it opens a flood gate for offenders -- Congress is
major beneficiary of this.”

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7. While a fair and informed critique of judgments and orders of the Courts
is welcome, it is for the learned ASG and the Bar to consider whether such
tweets call for action in accordance with law.

S. MURALIDHAR, J.

I.S. MEHTA, J.
MARCH 12, 2018
Rm

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