Justice Tejas Karia of the Delhi High Court recused himself  on Wednesday from hearing an important Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought  contempt action against Arvind Kejriwal, his party colleagues, and journalist Ravish Kumar for allegedly illegally recording and sharing courtroom videos on social media.

Bench Direction:

The division bench, led by Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya, said:

“This matter will not be heard by this bench. List tomorrow before a bench of which one of us (Justice Karia) is not a member.”

What the Plea Says:

The petition was filed by Advocate Vaibhav Singh. It focuses on videos from the April 13 hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma. During that hearing, Kejriwal had personally sought  her recusal.  The plea claims that  the proceedings were secretly recorded and shared online to harm  the image of the judiciary and to push  a supposed conspiracy  that suggests  bias due to political or central government pressure.

Singh, who earlier represented Facebook in a similar 2024 PIL against Sunita Kejriwal for similar violations, has asked the court for several actions. These include removing the videos, setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), stopping further sharing of such videos, and enforcing stricter monitoring by social media platforms like Meta, Google, and X Corp.

Who Are Named:

The people named in the case include Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Sanjeev Jha, Punardeep Sawhney, Jarnail Singh, Mukesh Ahlawat, Vinay Mishra, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, and Ravish Kumar, along with the Delhi High Court itself.

Earlier Court Order:

This comes after Justice Sharma on Monday rejected Kejriwal’s request that she step aside in the liquor policy case. She dismissed the claims of bias linked to her children working in the central government and said that politicians cannot decide whether a judge is fit to hear a case.

No Quick Action:

Singh had also sent a complaint to the Registrar General on April 15, but said there was no quick action taken by the social media platforms.

Case Details: VAIBHAV SINGH v. DELHI HIGH COURT & ORS