New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Tuesday issued notices to Delhi’s ex-Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, ex-deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj and other AAP leaders in a criminal contempt case linked to alleged “vilifying” and defamatory social media posts targeting a judge.
A division of bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja granted four weeks to all proposed contemnors to file their responses and listed the matter for further hearing on August 4, 2026.
The contempt proceedings stem from the ongoing Delhi excise policy case, in which the central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has challenged a trial court order discharging Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others. The Bench observed that the proceedings arose “based on the judgment dated May 14 passed by the Single Judge of this Court” and issued notice to the Proposed contemnors.
Justice Sharma initiated criminal contempt proceedings
Justice Sharma on May 14 initiated criminal contempt proceedings against Kejriwal, Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Vinay Mishra and others over alleged social media campaigns, public statements, edited videos and online content targeting the judge and the judiciary.
The judge has clarified that she was not recusing herself from the excise policy matter but transferred the main case to another bench on grounds of “judicial propriety and discipline” after attempting contempt proceedings.
The division bench comprising of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja also noted that Justice Sharma had relied on materials including social media posts, electronic records and publication records quoting this as a “political move”.
She further referred to the circulation of what she termed an “edited” video of a speech delivered by her at an educational institution in Varanasi, saying it was used to target her publicly.
(Curated by: Faiza Nazar)