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Kejriwal, Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh must respond within four weeks.
The Delhi High Court has granted four weeks to Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and others to file their replies in the ongoing criminal contempt case. The case relates to posts on social media allegedly offensive to Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma and tarnishing the image of the judiciary. The next hearing in the case will now be held on November 16, 2026.
During the hearing, the senior counsel appearing for Kejriwal told the court that he had not yet received a complete copy of all the documents and material on the basis of which the contempt proceedings were initiated. On this, the bench directed the registry to provide the relevant material.
No final conclusion has been given on the allegations in the hearing held before the bench of Justice Naveen Chawla and Justice Arun Bhardwaj. At present, the accused leaders have been given an opportunity to present their side and further action will be taken on their reply in the next hearing.
Contempt proceedings were initiated over a social media post.
The case began in May 2026 when Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma took cognizance of allegedly defamatory and contemptuous material posted against her on social media. After this, criminal contempt proceedings were initiated against Kejriwal, Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and other leaders by taking suo motu cognizance.
Material related to social media posts and videos was placed before the court. The case was initiated in the context of alleged comments and posts made against the judge during the hearing of a case related to the Delhi excise policy.
In May, a division bench of the Delhi High Court had issued notices to the accused leaders and sought their response within four weeks. After this, the case has been coming up for hearing on different dates.
Kejriwal stated that the entire material had not yet been received.
During Monday’s hearing, Kejriwal informed the court that the complete material underlying the initiation of contempt proceedings had not been provided to him. For this reason, the senior lawyer demanded to provide the necessary records for filing the reply.
Taking this submission into consideration, the court directed the Registry to provide the material which was said to be incomplete. After this, the accused party was given four weeks time to prepare its reply.
This means that at the moment the court is not making a final decision on the merits of the case. First the responses of the concerned leaders will come on record and after that the court will decide the further procedure.
How did the controversy surrounding Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma begin?
The background of the case is the hearing related to the Delhi Excise Policy case. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma was hearing the CBI’s plea in the case challenging the discharge of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and other accused by the lower court.
During this, Kejriwal and some other accused had demanded Justice Sharma to recuse himself from the case. He had expressed doubts about the impartiality of the judge. Justice Sharma did not accept the demand for recusal.
After this, Justice Sharma initiated contempt proceedings regarding the alleged posts and videos that surfaced on social media. Also, the hearing of the excise policy case was later sent to another bench.
The next hearing in the case will now be held on November 16.
The Delhi High Court has now listed this criminal contempt case for hearing on November 16, 2026. Kejriwal, Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and other relevant parties will have to file their replies by then.
As per the court’s direction, the records required for preparing the reply are also to be made available to the concerned parties. This will give the accused party an opportunity to give a formal response to the allegations made against them in the case and the basis for the same.
The court may consider these replies in the next hearing and decide the further course of action in the case. At present, no final judicial conclusion has been reached on the contempt charges.
Several AAP leaders have been named in the case.
In addition to Kejriwal and Sisodia, the names of other leaders, including Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Durgesh Pathak, and Vinay Mishra, have also surfaced in the contempt proceedings. The court has given an opportunity to the concerned parties to present their side in relation to the alleged social media content.
The matter is also important because it involves the question of the legal impact of comments made on social media regarding the judiciary and judges. However, the final decision on the legal status of the posts concerned and the responsibility of the accused leaders will be clear only after further court hearings.
At present, the next major step is to file the reply from all the concerned parties. After this the court will decide in which direction the case should be taken forward.
The next course of the case will be clear in November.
After Kejriwal, Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh were given four weeks to respond, the next crucial date in the case has now been set for November 16th. The response of the accused parties and the material provided will then be on record before the court.
In this hearing, the court can also see what is the stand of the concerned parties regarding the allegations and how the contempt proceedings should be taken forward. conclusion on the final legal position of either party at the moment
The case is being heard against the backdrop of judicial proceedings related to the Delhi Excise Policy and alleged comments made on social media. Now it will be clear in the November hearing what further procedure the Delhi High Court adopts in this matter.
