New Delhi: The Delhi High Court administration has asked police to take steps to take down or remove from social media all unauthorised recordings of the court proceedings related to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s plea in the liquor policy matter.A complaint has sought action against AAP functionaries who shared the clips.Advocate Vaibhav Singh, submitting his complaint to the registrar-general against Kejriwal and others for unauthorised recording and circulation of the clips, was informed on Wednesday that the high court has already taken note of these and directed law enforcement agencies to take steps to take down the content.Kejriwal appeared in person and argued his application for nearly 45 minutes before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, seeking her recusal from hearing the CBI appeal against the trial court order discharging him and other accused in the excise policy case.Besides Kejriwal, Singh has also sought action against AAP’s Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Sanjay Singh, Sanjeev Jha, Mukesh Ahlawat and others, as well as Congress leader Digvijay Singh for sharing the clips on social media.On Wednesday, another advocate sought an urgent hearing before a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal on his plea filed in connection with the circulation of court videos.The chief justice, however, declined the urgent listing, saying: “You have filed. It will be listed. What is the urgency?”Singh, in his complaint, has alleged that sharing video/audio of judicial proceedings was prohibited under the high court rules and alleged that the politicians’ conduct was an act to “create pressure on the judge.”Addressed to the registrar-general, Singh said several political functionaries, including Kejriwal and other AAP members, “intentionally and deliberately” recorded and circulated the clips.He contended that the act was in “clear contravention” of the Delhi High Court Rules for Video Conferencing of 2021, and the Electronic Evidence and Video Conferencing Rules, 2025, which explicitly prohibit any recording or publication of court proceedings.An official in the high court said this is not the first instance where action has been taken for posting recordings of court proceedings on social media. “Similar action has been undertaken in the past as well,” he said.Singh had also filed a plea in 2024 on which the high court had directed Kejriwal’s wife Sunita to take down a video recording of court proceedings related to the excise policy case from social media platforms. In the video, Kejriwal was seen addressing a trial court. In his petition, Singh had claimed that when Kejriwal was produced before a trial court on March 28 after his arrest in the excise policy case, he chose to address the court in person, and the video recording of the proceedings was posted on social media, which is prohibited.The video was allegedly reposted by Sunita Kejriwal and others.
