Delhi HC orders Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita, social media to take down video of court hearing in excise policy case

The Delhi High Court directed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife to take down video recording of court hearing in the excise policy case from social media platforms.

 A division Bench of Justices Neena Bansal Krishna and Amit Sharma further directed the social media companies like X (formerly know as Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to take down similar content when it comes to their notice, Bar and Bench reported on Saturday.

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Several social media handles were also directed to remove the video recording of court proceedings when her husband addressed the court in person following his arrest in the excise policy case.

The Delhi High Court issued the order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) that mentioned about audio/ video of Arvind Kejriwal addressing the Rouse Avenue court posted by Sunita Kejriwal and many other social media handles associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

What were allegations against Sunita Kejriwal?

It was alleged that Sunita Kejriwal and other social media handles violated the Video Conferencing Rules.

Advocate Vaibhav Singh, who filed the PIL, argued that recording of court proceedings is prohibited under the “High Court of Delhi Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts 2021” and making these videos viral was an effort to malign the image of judiciary and the judges

Singh said that after Kejriwal addressed the Rouse Avenue Court on March 28, several opposition parties made video/audio recordings of the court proceedings and posted them on social media platforms.

It was alleged that Sunita Kejriwal reposted an audio recording uploaded by an X (Twitter) account named Akshay.

Taking note of these videos, the petitioner submitted that Arvind Kejriwal "presenting his case on 28.03.2024 was part of some conspiracy to gain public sentiments." A detailed order is awaited.

The clip dated back to when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had addressed the court in person. Kejriwal was then produced before Special Judge (PC Act) Kaveri Baweja following his arrest in the case related to Delhi excise policy.

On March 28, Kejriwal was produced before the court by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. Kejriwal addressed the court in person and said that ED was running an extortion racket for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

(With inputs from Bar and Bench)