NEW DELHI: A criminal contempt petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court against Arvind Kejriwal and others for allegedly running a coordinated campaign targeting Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashok Chaitanya after obtaining consent from Delhi government Additional Standing Counsel Sanjeev Bhandari, seeks action against Kejriwal, journalist Saurabh Das, and AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai. The matter is likely to be heard on Friday by a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja.
The plea comes days after another bench issued notices to Kejriwal and AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia and Bharadwaj on a suo motu criminal contempt case over alleged defamatory and vilifying remarks against Justice Sharma.
On May 19, the court directed the respondents to file replies within 4 weeks and ordered preservation of relevant social media posts, electronic records and publications. The matter is scheduled for hearing on August 4, and the court has indicated it will appoint an amicus curiae. Justice Sharma had initiated criminal contempt proceedings on May 14 against Kejriwal, and others over social media posts linked to proceedings in the excise policy case