Delhi HC judge recuses himself from hearing contempt PIL against Kejriwal over circulation of court videos

Delhi High Court judge Justice Tejas Karia on Wednesday recused himself from hearing 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 chief minister’s plea seeking recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma in the liquor policy case.

The PIL by advocate Vaibhav Singh was listed for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Karia, which directed that it be listed before another bench on Thursday.

“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.

The counsel for the petitioner requested that the matter be sent to another bench dealing with a similar issue.

Besides the AAP leaders, the other parties in the PIL include the high court administration and social media giants Meta Platforms, X and Google.

Justice Karia, a former partner at a leading law firm, represented Meta in several cases before his elevation as a judge.

Singh, in his PIL, submitted 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, including Congress leader Digvijay Singh, however, “intentionally and deliberately recorded and circulated” videos of Kejriwal’s appearance before Justice 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 claimed.

Alleging that Kejriwal and his party members hatched a “conspiracy” and “dirty strategy” to record the court 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.

On Monday, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma refused to recuse herself from hearing the liquor-policy case, saying a litigant cannot be allowed to judge a judge without any material, and judges cannot recuse themselves to satisfy a litigant’s unfounded apprehension of bias.