Delhi High Court issues notices to Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia in criminal contempt proceedings

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, May 19, issued notices to AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and other party leaders in connection with the criminal contempt proceedings initiated over alleged attempts to scandalise the judiciary in the excise policy case.

A Division Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja has recorded in its order that the contempt proceedings were initiated on the basis of the May 14 order, wherein a single-judge Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma had taken exception to material allegedly circulated against the judiciary in a “derogatory” manner, IANS reported.

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“The proceedings have been initiated on the basis of the order dated May 14. The single judge has placed reliance on the material from social media posts and other electronic and publication records. The Registry is directed to preserve copies of the same and place them before this Court,” the High Court stated.

The notice has been issued to alleged contemnors, including AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj, Vinay Mishra and Durgesh Pathak. All of them have been granted four weeks time to file their replies in the matter, which has been listed for further hearing on August 4.

Notably, no counsel appeared on behalf of the alleged contemnors during the hearing.

During the hearing, the Bench indicated that it would appoint an amicus curiae to assist the court in adjudicating the criminal contempt proceedings.

This comes after Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma earlier observed that a “coordinated social media campaign” was carried out to scandalise the judiciary after her refusal to recuse from hearing the excise policy case.

In the order, Justice Sharma held that the actions of the proposed contemnors were “calculated to scandalise the Court, lower the authority of the institution of justice, interfere with the administration of justice, and intimidate the independent exercise of judicial functions”.

Further, it stated that while criticism of judicial orders is permissible, there exists “a very thin line” between fair criticism as well as the attempts to portray a judge as biased through organised campaigns.

“The Court cannot permit erosion of the constitutional system and the justice delivery mechanism by tolerating such assaults in the name of public discourse,” the order said.

Moreover, Justice Sharma clarified that the initiation of contempt proceedings was not driven by personal grievance. The judge added that it was aimed at safeguarding the integrity of the judiciary. Subsequently, the judge recused from hearing the main excise policy case, stating that it could be heard by another Bench to avoid any perception of bias.

After Justice Sharma’s recusal, a single-judge Bench of Justice Manoj Jain has been constituted to hear the CBI’s revision plea challenging the trial court order that had discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and others in the alleged corruption case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy.