‘Part of a conspiracy’: PIL in Delhi HC seeks contempt action against Kejriwal for circulating footage of his recusal hearing in excise case
Advocate Vaibhav Singh, in the PIL filed on April 15, also sought the court's direction to instruct social media platforms to remove recordings of the court proceedings.
In his PIL, Singh alleged that Kejriwal's decision to argue his recusal application himself on April 13 "was part of some conspiracy to gain public sentiments and malign the image of this Noble Institution." (File)
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking contempt proceedings against AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, several other politicians, and journalist Ravish Kumar for circulating audio and video recordings of the former Delhi Chief Minister arguing his plea seeking the recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma in the alleged liquor policy scam.
Advocate Vaibhav Singh, in the PIL filed on April 15, also sought the court’s direction to instruct social media platforms to remove recordings of the court proceedings.
In his PIL, Singh alleged that Kejriwal’s decision to argue his recusal application himself on April 13 “was part of some conspiracy to gain public sentiments and malign the image of this Noble Institution.” Singh further sought the court’s direction to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the conspiracy allegedly hatched by “Arvind Kejriwal and his party members for recording and sharing the audio and video of the court proceedings.”
In the plea, Singh also took objection to how, “soon after the hearing in the case was over,” “many social media handles belonging to the AAP members and other political parties started posting, reposting, forwarding, sharing, resharing the audio and video recording of the court proceedings with various misleading remarks appreciating Kejriwal.”
Singh argued that the recording of court proceedings and their posting on platforms are prohibited under the High Court of Delhi Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts, 2021, and also violate the Electronic Evidence and Video Conferencing Rules, 2025, of the Delhi High Court.
Apart from social media intermediaries, the PIL has also impleaded AAP leaders such as Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Sanjeev Jha, Congress leader Digvijay Singh, as well as Ravish Kumar.
Prior to filing the PIL, Singh had submitted a complaint to the Delhi HC Registrar General Arun Bharadwaj on April 15, pointing to the circulation of unauthorised audio and video recordings of the court proceedings. The PIL is likely to be taken up for hearing on Wednesday. The HC’s video conferencing rules state that no one shall record or publish court proceedings without the express permission of the court.
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Meanwhile, on Monday, Justice Sharma refused to recuse herself from hearing the CBI’s challenge to the discharge of Kejriwal and 22 others in the case. Kejriwal and five others had sought her recusal on grounds of the bias they apprehended.
Singh had in 2024 also filed a PIL in the HC against Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal for the alleged unauthorised recording and posting of trial court proceedings, during which the then Chief Minister had personally addressed the court. The HC had subsequently ordered the removal of the videos from the platforms.
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.
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