New Delhi: The Delhi High Court, on Tuesday, issued a criminal contempt of court notice to former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal, along with party leades Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj and others, for allegedly “vilifying” Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma through a targeted campaign across social media platforms.
The division bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja, issued the notice on the suo motu contempt case initiated against them by Justice Sharma. All the alleged contemners have been asked to submit their responses within four weeks.
“Issue notice. The alleged contemnors will file their response within a period of four weeks from the receipt of notice,” the court stated and listed the case for next hearing on August 4, as reported by News18.
The Registry has also been asked by the bench se 1 to keep the copies of the ‘derogatory’ material, which triggered the criminal contempt.
Justice Sharma was hearing the appeal moved by CBI against discharge of all accused in the excise policy case. She subsequently recused herself from the matter after facing alleged harassment by Kejriwal and the others.
Justice Sharma initiated criminal contempt proceedings against Kejriwal, Sisodia and several other AAP leaders on May 14 over social media posts that she described as “vilifying” in nature and directed at her in the excise policy case.
The former Delhi chief minister had “orchestrated a calculated campaign” against her on social media rather than availing remedies available under the legal process, Justice Sharma said. She also stated that the CBI’s plea challenging the discharge of all accused in the liquor policy case would now be heard by a different bench.
The HC judge also objected to posts made by the alleged contemnors that allegedly attributed “political allegiance” and “affiliation” to her. She further referred to the circulation of what she termed an “edited” video of a speech delivered by her at an educational institution in Varanasi, saying it was used to target her publicly.
She additionally took note of video clips from court proceedings being circulated online, remarking that the alleged contemnors were attempting to build a “parallel narrative” around the matter. “Remaining silent” in the face of such actions would not amount to judicial restraint, but instead be seen as “surrender before a powerful litigant,” Justice Sharma said.
A trial court, on February 27, discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the excise policy case, holding that the prosecution’s case was wholly unable to survive judicial scrutiny and stood discredited in its entirety.
The CBI moved the High Court against this order. Kejriwal and the others then sought her recusal from the case. Justice Sharma rejected pleas seeking this and on April 20, Kejriwal, Sisodia and AAP leader Durgesh Pathak wrote to her saying they would neither appear before her personally nor through legal counsel and would instead follow “Mahatma Gandhi’s path of Satyagraha”.
