HC judge recuses from hearing plea seeking contempt action against Kejriwal

DElhi heights margaret court try Tejas Karia on wed recused himself from audience a plea seeking contempt action against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and others for allegedly publishing videos of proceedings seeking Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma’s recusal from the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) appeal against a trial court order discharging them in the 2022 excise policy case.Advocate Vaibhav Singh, the petitioner, sought directions to Meta, X, Kejriwal, and others to take down Kejriwal’s videos arguing his plea for Justice Sharma’s recusal. The plea was listed before a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Karia. When it was taken up, the bench said that Justice Karia would not be able to hear the matter. “List this matter before a bench of which one of us [Justice Karia] is not a member. List the matter tomorrow [Thursday] before another bench,” the bench said.Singh filed the plea even as the high court last week issued directions to the Delhi Police to take down video recordings from social media platforms. He has also sought action against Congress leader Digvijay Singh, AAP’s Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Sanjeev Jha, Jarnail Singh, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Vinay Mishra.Singh argued the circulation of the videos violated the rules on online hearings under the Electronic Evidence and Video Recording Conference Rules, 2025. He added that they prohibit the recording and publication of court proceedings.Singh’s plea argued that such conduct reflected some conspiracy to mislead the general public, malign the court’s image, and create pressure on the judicial system and the judge.On February 27, the trial court discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia, and 21 others, holding that the CBI’s material did not disclose even a prima facie case. The agency challenged the discharge in the high court, calling the findings “inherently wrong” and claiming they ignored key evidence.On March 9, Justice Sharma’s bench stayed the trial court’s direction for departmental action against a CBI officer and deferred Enforcement Directorate proceedings pending the appeal.Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya rejected Kejriwal’s request to transfer the appeal from Justice Sharma’s bench on March 13. Kejriwal, Sisodia, and four others then filed an application seeking Justice Sharma’s recusal.Kejriwal appeared in the court on April 6, when notice was issued, and on April 13, arguing his application for over an hour, videos of this went viral on social media platforms. On Monday, Justice Sharma dismissed the recusal applications.