Saurav Das, Arvind Kejriwal deleted comments against Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma: Contempt petitioner to Delhi HC

Journalist Saurav Das and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai have deleted social media posts against Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, the Delhi High Court was told on Tuesday.

Advocate Ashok Chaitanya, who filed criminal contempt of court case against Das, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders, said that the offending social media posts have been removed.

Chaitanya told a Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja today that even though the material appeared to have been deleted, he has digital records with him. 

“They [respondents] appear to have deleted the material which I have placed reliance on. But I recorded. That is available with me… I may be allowed to place the electronic record,” he requested the Court.

The Bench allowed the request.  

While Chaitanya did not specify in Court about which contemnors he was referring to, when Bar & Bench contacted him, he said he was referring to Das, Kejriwal, Sisodia and Gopal Rai.

However, Bar & Bench found that the posts were still available online. 

One of the main grounds in Chaitanya’s contempt case is a post made by Das on X and AAP leaders’ response to that post. 

On April 9, Das raised allegations of conflict of interest on Justice Sharma’s part as she was hearing the CBI’s challenge to Kejriwal, Sisodia and others’ discharge in the excise policy case. Das said that Justice Sharma’s son and daughter were empanelled by the Central government before the High Court and the Supreme Court. 

On this X post, Kejriwal asked, “Is this true? V v explosive”. Bharadwaj and Rai also quoted the tweet to raise questions of impartiality.

The original post by Das as well as the quote tweets by Kejriwal, Bharadwaj and Rai are still available. 

The Court today also heard the suo motu contempt initiated against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders. 

Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari appeared for Kejriwal and said that the material which formed the basis of the initiation of the contempt proceedings has not been shared with them.

The counsel appearing for Sisodia, Bharadwaj, Sanjay Singh and Durgesh also made the same submissions. 

The Court then directed its registry to supply the material to the respondents and asked them to file their replies within four weeks. The matter will be heard next on September 21.

The case against Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Durgesh Pathak was initiated on May 14 by the High Court suo motu after Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma took note of their social media posts and letters written to her and published online regarding their refusal to participate in the Excise policy case proceedings.

Justice Sharma was hearing the CBI's challenge to the Rouse Avenue Court order discharging Kejriwal, Sisodia and everyone else in the excise policy case.

However, Kejriwal and others refused to participate in the hearings citing bias and conflict of interest on the part of the judge.

Justice Sharma then initiated contempt case against them which is now being heard by the bench headed by Justice Chawla.

Meanwhile, Chaitanya filed the criminal contempt case after getting consent from the Delhi government's Additional Standing Counsel (Criminal), Sanjeev Bhandari. 

As per the plea, Kejriwal, Das, Bharadwaj and Rai "initiated a concerted and orchestrated campaign on the social media platform X, publishing and amplifying content containing serious, unfounded and scandalous allegations against Justice Sharma.