The Delhi High Court on Saturday ordered Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, to remove a video recording of court proceedings related to the excise policy case from social media platforms.
In the video, Arvind Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is seen addressing a trial court.
A bench comprising justices Justices Neena Bansal Krishna and Amit Sharma issued notices to six people, including Sunita Kejriwal, and social media intermediaries X (formerly known as Twitter), Meta, and YouTube. This followed a petition alleging violations of the Delhi High Court’s video conferencing rules.
The court also directed the social media intermediaries to take down similar content if re-posted and scheduled further hearings for July 9. It restrained parties from re-posting the content and mandated communication of the order within 48 hours.
“The order be communicated to them within 48 hours. Service be also effected through ordinary and electronic mode,” the bench said and asked the petitioner to serve the unserved respondents.
Lawyer Vaibhav Singh filed the petition, asserting that the video recording, posted on social media platforms, breached the High Court of Delhi Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts, 2021. Singh claimed the recording was re-posted by Sunita Kejriwal and others.
During the proceedings, Meta’s counsel indicated compliance if the content’s posters removed it voluntarily; otherwise, Meta would act as per court directives.
The petitioner additionally sought the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe and file FIRs against those responsible for recording and sharing court proceedings, citing risks to the trial court judge’s safety.
“Several members of the Aam Aadmi Party, including members of various other opposition parties, have intentionally and deliberately and with wilful intention to malign and manipulate the court proceedings done the audio and video recording of the court proceedings and circulated on social media platforms,” the plea said.
The plea sought to “punish the alleged contemnor as per the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, and impose strict penalties on the individuals found guilty of violation of VC Rules 2021 of this Hon’ble court, as per the provisions specified in law”.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 in a money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy ‘scam’ and remains in judicial custody at Tihar jail.