Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal appeared before the Delhi High Court during the hearing of the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI's) plea in the liquor policy case. He argued his case himself and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General S V Raju were also present on behalf of the CBI.
As Kejriwal began speaking in the court, he stated, "I personally respect the judge and I also respect the court." The bench responded that respect is mutual and asked him to remain focused on the issue. Kejriwal then said, "I am standing here like an accused, although the trial court has already acquitted me." The bench instructed him to present his submissions specifically on the matter of seeking recusal of the judge.
Kejriwal objects to order passed without presence of respondents
Kejriwal argued that on March 9, the High Court passed an order on the CBI's plea challenging the trial court's judgment without the presence of any respondents. "The court passed an order in favour of the CBI in the absence of any respondent and observed that the trial court's order had prima facie flaws. However, the chargesheet in this case is more than 40,000 pages long. The court issued its order without reading it," he said.
He added that the law is straightforward. According to him, the issue is not whether a judge is actually biased but whether the litigant feels a reasonable apprehension regarding fairness. Kejriwal said he would present ten reasons to explain why he believes such apprehension exists.
Kejriwal cites Supreme Court's judgments
During the arguments, Kejriwal referred to several Supreme Court judgments explaining what constitutes reasonable apprehension. Earlier, during the previous hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had strongly opposed Kejriwal's plea. Mehta had said the court is not a stage for theatrics and termed the allegations frivolous and contemptuous. He also pointed out that seven other acquitted accused had similarly filed requests seeking recusal of the judge. Justice Sharma had stated that if more applications were to come, they could be taken up collectively for a single decision.
Trial court acquittal and subsequent High Court proceedings
On 27 February, the trial court acquitted Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and 21 others. The court criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and said the case was not capable of standing judicial scrutiny and that the evidence was found to be entirely unreliable. On March 9, Justice Sharma issued notices to all 23 accused on the CBI's petition. The judge observed that certain remarks made by the trial court during the framing of charges appeared to be flawed.
The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, DK Upadhyaya, had earlier rejected Kejriwal's request seeking a change of judge, stating that such decisions must be taken by the concerned judge. On March 11, Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia raised concerns that the hearing may not be conducted impartially.
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