NEW DELHI: In a fresh twist in the ongoing CBI appeal hearings against the discharge of all accused in the excise policy case, Delhi HC’s Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma initiated criminal contempt proceedings against former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP functionaries Manish Sisodia, Durgesh Pathak, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj and others, and then opted out of hearing the main matter.“Can’t surrender before a powerful litigant,” Justice Sharma observed as she drew contempt proceedings against Kejriwal, adding that he “orchestrated a calculated campaign of vilification” against her on social media instead of challenging adverse orders against him before the higher court.She said she will now hear only the contempt case and transferred the appeal, so that the “respondents” don’t later claim she is biased against them. The judge said while the hearings in the excise policy case are in progress inside, “a parallel narrative was being constructed outside… and insinuations directed at this court… by contemnors armed with political powers.”

Justice Sharma took exception to social media posts by Kejriwal and shared by other AAP functionaries that attributed “political allegiance” to her and targeted her by posting a misleading “edited” video of a speech given by her at an educational institution in Varanasi.“Arvind Kejriwal sought to destroy my reputation instead of availing legal remedies after I refused to recuse and a deliberate attempt to lower the court’s authority can’t be permitted in the guise of free speech,” Justice Sharma said.She noted that Kejriwal wanted to sow “seeds of distrust”, but warned that “judicial silence can’t tolerate judges being threatened into silence”.

Gandhiji’s Satyagraha has won: Kejriwal

She said she will now hear only the contempt case and transferred the appeal, so that the “respondents” don’t later claim she is biased. The judge said while the hearings in the excise policy case are in progress inside, “a parallel narrative was being constructed outside… and insinuations directed at this court… by contemnors armed with political powers”.Justice Sharma took exception to social media posts by Kejriwal and shared by other AAP functionaries that attributed “political allegiance” to her and targeted her by posting a misleading “edited” video of a speech given by her at an educational institution in Varanasi.“Arvind Kejriwal sought to destroy my reputation instead of availing legal remedies after I refused to recuse and a deliberate attempt to lower the court’s authority can’t be permitted in the guise of free speech,” Justice Sharma said.She noted that Kejriwal wanted to sow “seeds of distrust”, but warned that “judicial silence can’t tolerate judges being threatened into silence”.Citing Kejriwal’s “conduct”, the judge said it was expected that once his plea seeking recusal stood decided, the “issue will attain quietus”.“The litigant could have gone to Supreme Court in challenge, but he didn’t, instead he issued a video and repeated the same allegations and grounds that were rejected by this court,” Justice Sharma said. She also referred to Kejriwal’s letter on X where he announced his decision to boycott hearings in her court.“The tone, tenor and manner were not of fair criticism. They have run a campaign, and the social media campaigns questioned the integrity, impartiality of this court,” HC observed. A detailed copy of the order is awaited. The judge read out portions from her order in a special sitting around 6.30pm and went on for around 1.5 hours.Justice Sharma clarified that she was not recusing herself but was only transferring the case to another bench as she has initiated contempt proceedings. “By selectively editing letters and videos, the respondents tried to intimidate the court and tried to cast aspersions by dragging in my family members,” the judge said, adding that the aim was “calculated humiliation”.The AAP chief, unfazed as Justice Sharma ordered contempt proceedings against him, applauded her decision to step away from the excise case. “The truth has won, Gandhiji’s Satyagraha has won,” Kejriwal said in his first response on social media platform X.