Delhi HC gives Arvind Kejriwal, AAP leaders four weeks to reply in contempt case

The Delhi High Court on Monday granted four weeks to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders to file their responses in a criminal contempt case initiated by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma over alleged defamatory social media posts targeting her.

A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Arun Bhardwaj fixed November 16 as the next date of hearing. The court also directed the high court registry to provide Kejriwal and the other respondents with copies of documents and other material forming the basis of the contempt proceedings that had not yet been supplied to them.

Court directs registry to provide pending material

The direction came after senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, appearing for Kejriwal, along with lawyers representing the other AAP leaders, submitted that certain documents had not been provided to the accused.

The respondents include Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Vinay Mishra and Durgesh Pathak.

“The respondents are permitted to approach the registrar. Let the replies be filed by the respondents in four weeks,” the court said in its order.

The latest hearing follows an earlier direction in the contempt proceedings for the respondents to receive the material on which the case was based. The court had also issued contempt notices to the AAP leaders earlier this year.

Contempt proceedings followed recusal bid

The proceedings arose after a series of developments in a case connected with the Delhi excise policy matter.

On February 27, a trial court discharged Kejriwal and others in the excise policy case, prompting the CBI to approach the high court. On March 9, Justice Sharma stayed the trial court’s direction for departmental action against a CBI officer and deferred Enforcement Directorate (ED) proceedings.

Kejriwal subsequently sought to transfer the matter from Justice Sharma’s bench, but Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya rejected the request on March 13.

On April 5, Kejriwal, Sisodia and others sought Justice Sharma’s recusal. She dismissed the request on April 20. On April 27, Kejriwal informed the judge that he would boycott the proceedings.

Following this, Sisodia and Pathak also wrote similar letters. On May 5, the court decided to appoint senior advocates as amicus curiae to represent the three leaders, but the matter was deferred on three occasions.

Justice Sharma withdrew after initiating contempt

On May 14, Justice Sharma initiated contempt proceedings and withdrew herself from the case. She stated that the law did not permit a judge who had initiated contempt proceedings over allegedly defamatory, contemptuous and vilifying material posted against the judge on social media in relation to a matter to continue hearing that very matter.

The Delhi High Court subsequently issued notices to the AAP leaders in the criminal contempt proceedings. A May 2026 court proceeding recorded allegations concerning social media material attributed to Kejriwal, Sisodia, Durgesh Pathak, Sanjay Singh, Vinay Mishra and Saurabh Bhardwaj.

Separately, lawyer Ashok Chaitanya sought initiation of contempt proceedings against Kejriwal, Bhardwaj, Gopal Rai and journalist Saurav Das, alleging that they were involved in a coordinated social media campaign targeting Justice Sharma. That separate contempt petition has also been listed for November 16.