AAP leader Gopal Rai. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Delhi High Court on Friday (May 22, 2026) issued notices to AAP leader Gopal Rai and a journalist on a plea seeking contempt proceedings against them over an alleged “orchestrated social media campaign” against Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, who recently withdrew from hearing the Delhi excise case.
A Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja sought the stand of Mr. Rai and Saurav Das over lawyer Ashok Chaitanya’s petition, which also named former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and ex-AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj as parties.
Observing that a contempt case has already been initiated against Mr. Kejriwal and others, the Bench listed the case for further hearing on August 4.
The petition alleged that while Mr. Kejriwal’s plea seeking recusal of Justice Sharma in the excise policy case was pending, Mr. Rai and Mr. Das launched a social media campaign in a “brazen attempt to exert extra-judicial pressure on a sitting judge.” The plea alleged that they made “scurrilous and malicious allegations” against the judge, implying a conflict of interest and accused her of bias.
Justice Sharma had on May 14 initiated criminal contempt proceedings against Mr Kejriwal, Mr Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders over their “vilifying” social media posts against her in relation to the excise policy case.
The judge took exception to several social media posts, attributing “political allegiance” and “affiliation” to her and allegedly targeting her by posting a misleading “edited” video of a speech she gave at an educational institution in Varanasi.
On May 19, the court issued notice to Mr. Kejriwal, Mr. Sisodia, and others in the criminal contempt case.
On February 27, the trial court discharged Mr. Kejriwal, Mr. Sisodia and 21 others in the liquor policy case, ruling that the case was unable to survive judicial scrutiny and stood discredited in its entirety.
After Justice Sharma dismissed their applications seeking her recusal in the CBI’s petition against their discharge in the case on April 20, Mr. Kejriwal, Mr. Sisodia and Mr. Pathak wrote a letter to Justice Sharma, saying that they would not appear before her personally or through a lawyer and would follow “Mahatma Gandhi’s path of Satyagraha”.
After Justice Sharma released the CBI’s petition from her court on May 14, the case is now before Justice Manoj Jain.
Published – May 23, 2026 09:44 am IST
