HC judge recuses himself from PIL against Kejriwal

New Delhi: A Delhi High Court judge on Wednesday recused himself from a PIL seeking contempt action against AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others for allegedly uploading and sharing clips of the court hearing on the former CM’s arguments during the liquor policy case.

Justice Tejas Karia opted out of hearing the plea by advocate Vaibhav Singh that was listed before a bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and him. “This matter will not be heard by this bench. List tomorrow before a bench of which one of us, Justice Tejas Karia, is not a member,” the court said.

Justice Karia, a former partner at a leading law firm, represented Meta in several cases before his elevation as a judge, including in a similar plea filed by Singh a few years ago against uploading of videos of a court hearing.

The latest plea has made AAP leaders parties, apart from the high court administration and social media giants Meta, X and Google.

It argues that unauthorised sharing of court recordings on social media can undermine the independence of the judiciary and is also prohibited under high court rules.

Several AAP leaders and members of various other opposition parties, “intentionally and deliberately recorded and circulated” videos of Kejriwal’s appearance before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on April 13 on social media with the intention to malign the image of the court in the eyes of the public, the plea said.

Alleging that Kejriwal and his party members hatched a “conspiracy” and “dirty strategy” to record the proceedings, the PIL urged that an SIT be formed to investigate the matter and contempt proceedings be initiated against “all respondents who uploaded, reposted, forwarded the recording of court proceedings dated 13.04.2026”.

The PIL also prayed for the removal of the content from social media.

On April 15, Singh filed a complaint with the high court registrar-general against the alleged unauthorised recording of court proceedings.
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