NEW DELHI: Days after Delhi HC judge Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma initiated criminal contempt proceedings against former CM Arvind Kejriwal and other party leaders for their “vilifying” social media posts against her and said that the excise policy case would be sent to another bench, the AAP national convenor, Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak have joined the case proceedings.
After Justice Sharma had dismissed their applications seeking her recusal in the case on April 20, Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak had informed her that they would not appear before her personally or through a lawyer and would follow “Mahatma Gandhi’s path of Satyagraha.”
The HC on Monday listed for hearing on July 16 the CBI plea against the trial court order discharging the three AAP leaders and other accused in the liquor policy case. Justice Manoj Jain, who was assigned the case following Justice Sharma’s recusal, noted that three documents authorising lawyers to represent Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak had been filed by them.
The judge said that the court would draw up a schedule for the hearing of the parties on the next date of hearing.
Meanwhile, another bench—comprising justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja of the high court, is currently hearing the contempt petition.
Just recently, the two-judge bench had also issued notices to AAP leader Gopal Rai and journalist Saurav Das on a plea seeking contempt proceedings against them for an “orchestrated social media campaign” against Justice Sharma.
The petition alleged that while Kejriwal’s plea seeking the recusal of Justice Sharma in the excise policy case was pending, Rai and Das launched a social media campaign in a “brazen attempt to exert extra-judicial pressure on a sitting judge.” It accused the two of levelling “scurrilous and malicious allegations” against the judge, implying a conflict of interest and accused her of bias.
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