The Delhi High Court was on Monday informed that Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, other party leaders and Cockroach Janta Party spokesperson Saurav Das have still not deleted the allegedly contemptuous tweets against Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.

Litigant Ashok Chaitanya made the submission before a division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Arun Bhardwaj which was hearing his plea seeking contempt action against the individuals for posting contemptuous content against Justice Sharma on social media.

Chaitanya said that while in the last hearing he informed the court that the tweets have been deleted, the content remains available on social media and has not been taken down.

The Court directed Chaitanya to file an affidavit and bring the relevant material on record.

The Bench has also granted six weeks' time to Kejriwal and four others to file their responses in the suo motu criminal contempt initiated against them.

The suo motu criminal contempt was initiated after Justice Sharma took note of various social media posts and videos shared by the respondents in connection with the recusal proceedings in the excise policy case.

She had earlier rejected the recusal applications filed by Kejriwal and others. She nonetheless transferred the liquor policy case to another single judge.

Chaitanya, in his plea, alleges that during the hearing of the recusal application in relation to excise policy case before Justice Sharma, the AAP leaders and the journalist initiated a “concerted and orchestrated campaign” on X (formerly Twitter), published and amplified content containing “serious, unfounded, and scandalous allegations” against her.

Chaitanya has said that the posts alleged a “supposed conflict of interest, bias, and impropriety, based on misleading assertion” relating to the professional engagements of the Judge's family members.

Title: Court on its own motion v. Arvind Kejriwal & Ors and other connected matter