New Delhi, 22 April (H.S.): Delhi High Court Justice Tejas Karia recused himself from adjudicating a contempt petition against former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party leaders, and journalist Ravish Kumar for allegedly uploading proceedings from Justice Swarnkanta Sharma's bench to social media.
Filed by advocate Vaibhav Singh, the plea objects to recordings from the hearing on CBI's appeal against Kejriwal's acquittal in the Delhi excise scam trial—specifically his bid to recuse Justice Sharma. It accuses Kejriwal, Congress's Digvijay Singh, AAP's Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Sanjeev Jha, Purandeep Sahni, Jarnail Singh, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Vinay Mishra of peddling baseless, defamatory arguments to erode court prestige.
The petitioner demands video takedowns from X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, alleging orchestrated dissemination misled the public and pressured judiciary and government. Singh had previously petitioned the Registrar General for action.
A reconstituted bench excluding Justice Karia will hear the matter. Notably, Justice Sharma dismissed Kejriwal's own recusal plea on April 20, ruling mere conjecture insufficient for exclusion.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
