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‘Don’t expect justice’: After Kejriwal, Sisodia’s ‘no lawyer’ letter to Delhi judge

AAP leader Manish Sisodia says “there is no path left except Satyagraha.”

AAP leader Manish Sisodia. (File Photo)AAP leader Manish Sisodia. (ANI)

After Arvind Kejriwal, AAP leader Manish Sisodia wrote to Delhi High Court’s Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on Tuesday, conveying that he too will go unrepresented before her court in the alleged liquor excise policy scam.

Stating that “there is no path left except Satyagraha” and claiming that he does not “expect justice”, Sisodia said, “No lawyer will appear on my behalf either. Your children’s future is in the hands of (Solicitor General of India) Tushar Mehta.”

In a similar proclamation, AAP’s national convenor and the former Delhi CM Kejriwal had written to Justice Sharma, saying that he will “neither appear in person nor through a lawyer before her” in the excise policy case.

“I have lost hope of getting justice from Justice Swarana Kanta. Therefore, I have decided to follow the path of Satyagraha as shown by Mahatma Gandhi,” he said in his letter yesterday.

Kejriwal primarily reiterated his apprehension regarding Justice Sharma’s “public association with the RSS’s legal front, Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad” and pointed out Justice Sharma’s children are on the Union of India’s panels of advocates and are assigned cases by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta.

Kejriwal and Sisodia are parties in CBI’s revision plea, challenging their discharge in the alleged liquor policy scam case that Justice Sharma is hearing. Justice Sharma last week refused to recuse herself from hearing CBI’s plea.

Flagging his concerns, Sisodia has said, “My concern, too, much like Mr. Kejriwal’s, is not born out of hostility to the court. It is born of a deep unease that, if I continue to participate despite these circumstances, I would be acting against my own conscience too while pretending before my fellow countrymen that all doubts stand resolved.”

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“…for reasons substantially aligned with those set out by Mr Arvind Kejriwal in his letter to you, I respectfully state that I too shall not participate in further proceedings in this matter before this Hon’ble Court, whether personally or through counsel,” he added.

The communications by Kejriwal and Sisodia come days after Justice Sharma refused to recuse from hearing the case despite the accused raising apprehensions of bias and conflict of interest.

Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More

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