NEW DELHI: Delhi high court judge Justice Tejas Karia on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a PIL seeking contempt action against AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, for allegedly posting and sharing clips of a court hearing related to the former chief minister’s plea for recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma in the liquor policy case, according to news agency PTI.The PIL, filed by advocate Vaibhav Singh, was listed before a bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Karia. The bench directed that the matter be placed before another bench on Thursday.“This matter will not be heard by this bench. List tomorrow before a bench of which one of us, Justice Tejas Karia, is not a member,” the court said.According to news agency PTI, during the hearing, counsel for the petitioner requested that the case be transferred to another bench already dealing with a similar issue.Apart from the AAP leaders, the PIL names the high court administration and social media platforms such as Meta Platforms, X, and Google as parties.Justice Karia, before his elevation to the bench, was a partner at a leading law firm and had represented Meta in several cases.In his plea, Singh argued that unauthorized sharing of court proceedings on social media undermines judicial independence and violates high court rules.The PIL further alleged that several AAP leaders and members of other opposition parties, including Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, “intentionally and deliberately recorded and circulated” videos of Kejriwal’s appearance before Justice Sharma on April 13 with the aim of maligning the court’s image.Claiming that Kejriwal and his associates hatched a “conspiracy” and adopted a “dirty strategy” to record the proceedings, the plea sought the formation of an SIT to probe the matter and initiation of contempt proceedings against “all respondents who uploaded, reposted, forwarded the recording of court proceedings dated 13.04.2026”.The petition also sought removal of the videos from social media platforms.Earlier, on April 15, Singh had filed a complaint with the high court registrar general over the alleged unauthorized recording of court proceedings.On Monday, Justice Sharma declined to recuse herself from the liquor policy case, observing that a litigant cannot be allowed to judge a judge without any material and that recusal cannot be based on unfounded apprehensions of bias.
