The Delhi High Court has issued criminal contempt notices to former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief coordinator Arvind Kejriwal and several senior party leaders, citing alleged defamatory social media comments targeting Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.
The matter is linked to the Delhi excise policy irregularities case. After a trial court recently discharged Kejriwal and AAP leaders including Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak, the CBI filed an appeal in the High Court, which was listed before Justice Sharma.
Kejriwal’s side sought to object to Justice Sharma hearing the appeal, stating that the judge had participated in various RSS events. Justice Sharma rejected the request, after which, the petition alleges, social media posts were made that amounted to defamation.
On May 14, Justice Sharma recused himself from hearing the CBI’s appeal and transferred it to another bench. Subsequently, he initiated criminal contempt proceedings over the alleged posts.
A bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja heard the petition and issued notices to Kejriwal, Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj and others, directing them to file their responses within four weeks. The next hearing has been scheduled for August 4, and the court registrar has been asked to preserve copies of the materials cited in the contempt action.
