Delhi HC judge recuses from hearing contempt plea against Kejriwal, Sisodia over sharing courtroom clips
In the plea, advocate Vaibhav Singh submitted that sharing of court proceedings on social media can dilute the independence of the judiciary. He said sharing of court recordings is also prohibited under high court rules.
A Delhi High Court (HC) judge has recused himself from hearing a petition, moved to seek contempt action against former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others. The contempt action has been sought against them for allegedly sharing clips of court room proceedings when Kejriwal's plea seeking recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma in the excise policy case was being heard.
The PIL by advocate Vaibhav Singh was listed for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Karia, which directed that it be listed before another bench on Thursday.
Recusing from hearing the case, the court said, “This matter will not be heard by this bench. List tomorrow before a bench of which one of us, Justice Tejas Karia, is not a member.”
The petitioner's counsel had earlier requested that the matter be sent to another bench dealing with a similar case. Not just the AAP leaders, the other parties that are included in the PIL are the high court administration and social media giants Meta Platforms, X and Google.
Justice Karia, a former partner at a leading law firm, represented Meta in several cases before his elevation as a judge.
What did the PIL say?
In the plea, advocate Vaibhav Singh submitted that sharing of court proceedings on social media can dilute the independence of the judiciary. He said sharing of court recordings is also prohibited under high court rules.
The plea claimed that the AAP leaders "intentionally and deliberately recorded and circulated" videos of Kejriwal's appearance before Justice Sharma on April 13 on social media. It alleged that the intention behind sharing of clips from court proceedings was to malign the image of the court.
Alleging that Kejriwal and his party members hatched a "conspiracy" and "dirty strategy" to record the court proceedings, the PIL urged that an SIT be formed to investigate the matter and contempt proceedings be initiated against "all respondents who uploaded, reposted, forwarded the recording of court proceedings dated 13.04.2026".
The PIL also prayed for the removal of the content from social media.
On April 15, Singh filed a complaint with the high court registrar general against the alleged unauthorised recording of court proceedings.
On Monday, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma refused to recuse herself from hearing the liquor-policy case, saying a litigant cannot be allowed to judge a judge without any material, and judges cannot recuse themselves to satisfy a litigant's unfounded apprehension of bias.
(With agency inputs)
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