Delhi High Court judge Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on Thursday initiated criminal contempt proceedings against AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and other party leaders over alleged defamatory posts targeting her in relation to the excise policy case.
The contempt proceedings also name AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Durgesh Pathak, Sanjay Singh, Vinay Mishra and Saurabh Bhardwaj.
Justice Sharma said the former Delhi chief minister "orchestrated a calculated campaign" of vilification against her on social media instead of pursuing his legal remedies and clarified that the CBI's petition against the discharge of all accused persons would now be taken up by another bench.
The judge took exception to several social media posts by the proposed contemnors that attributed "political allegiance" to her and allegedly targeted her by posting a misleading "edited" video of a speech given by her at an educational institution in Varanasi.
"Arvind Kejriwal sought to destroy my reputation instead of availing legal remedies after I refused to recuse and a deliberate attempt to lower the court's authority can't be permitted in guise of free speech," she said.
"Deliberate attempt to lower court's authority can't be permitted in guise of free speech," she added.
The judge clarified that she was not recusing herself but was only transferring the case to another bench as she has initiated the contempt proceedings.
Earlier in the day, the judge said that she "cannot stay silent" and would initiate contempt proceedings against some discharged accused for allegedly running a social media campaign against the court and questioning its impartiality.
“It has come to my notice that extremely vilifying, extremely contemptuous, and defamatory material is being posted by some of the respondents against me and against this court and I cannot stay silent. I have decided to draw contempt proceedings against some of the respondents and some other contemnors,” the judge had said.
The court was hearing CBI's petition challenging the trial court's order discharging former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the liquor policy case.
The court had earlier decided to appoint senior lawyers as amici curiae to represent the unrepresented respondents, i.e, AAP leaders Kejriwal, Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak.
During the hearing, Justice Sharma said some senior counsel have "graciously accepted" the court's recommendation but in the meantime, she came across the contemptuous material.
Kejriwal and MLAs have boycotted the hearing before Justice Sharma after the judge refused to recuse herself on their applications alleging conflict of interest and apprehension of bias.
On February 27, the trial court discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the liquor policy case, as it ruled that the case was wholly unable to survive judicial scrutiny and stood discredited in its entirety.
After Justice Sharma dismissed their applications seeking her recusal in the case on April 20, Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak wrote a letter to her, stating they would not appear before her personally or through a lawyer and would follow "Mahatma Gandhi's path of Satyagraha".
On April 5, the court noted that none appeared for the AAP leaders in the proceedings and closed their right to file their replies. It, however, stated that it would pass an order appointing three senior lawyers to represent them.
Kejriwal, Sisodia and other respondents claimed that the judge's children are empanelled central government lawyers who receive work through solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appears for the CBI in the excise case.
On April 20, Justice Sharma junked the recusal plea, saying that judges cannot recuse themselves to satisfy a litigant's unfounded apprehension of bias. Pathak, Vijay Nair and Arun Ramchandra Pillai had also sought her recusal.