HC seeks Sunita Kejriwal's response on sharing recording of court proceedings

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, 9 July asked Sunita Kejriwal to file her response to a petition against her for allegedly sharing on social media a recording of the trial court proceedings pertaining to her husband and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case.

Sunita Kejriwal's counsel argued that the petitioner was "sensationalising" the issue and "dragging people when they have nothing to do" with it.

Her senior lawyer urged the court to "drop her" from the list of parties in the petition, stating she had merely "re-tweeted" the recording and was not the "originator" of the recording.

A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan observed that court proceedings cannot be recorded and shared on the internet and asked the counsel to place her stand in the form of a reply.

"Court proceedings can't be put on the net. The problem is of anonymity. We will have to deal with the matter. File a reply, whatever it is," the bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, stated.

On 15 June, a vacation bench of the high court had ordered that the audio/video of the chief minister addressing the trial court be removed from social media platforms.

The court was on Tuesday informed by the parties that the content has been removed from social media pursuant to the direction.

The counsel for Meta said it was not possible for it to comply with the vacation bench's direction to ensure that the content is not re-uploaded.

The court asked the social media platform to file an appropriate application in this regard.

Lawyer Vaibhav Singh had moved the high court earlier claiming that when Arvind Kejriwal was produced before a trial court on March 28 after his arrest in the Delhi excise policy case, he chose to address the court in-person. The recording of the proceedings was posted on social media platforms which is prohibited under the High Court of Delhi Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts, 2021.

He alleged that the video was re-posted by Sunita Kejriwal and several others.

"Several members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 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.

Besides removal of the content, the plea has sought a direction to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the individuals responsible for recording and sharing audio and video recordings of the court proceedings.

The matter will be heard next on 7 October.