Kejriwal to Argue His own case Today as AAP files Recusal Plea against HC Judge in Delhi Excise Matter

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, along with 22 co-accused discharged in the Delhi liquor policy case, has filed a recusal application before Justice Swarn Kanta Sharma of the Delhi High Court, seeking the judge's withdrawal from the matter ahead of a scheduled April 6 hearing on the CBI's appeal against their discharge, a move that signals an escalating battle over judicial impartiality at one of Delhi's most politically charged trials.

The confrontation traces back to February 27, when a Rouse Avenue trial court discharged Kejriwal, former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, and 21 others, finding that the CBI's evidence fell woefully short of establishing even a prima facie case. The trial judge went further, ordering a departmental inquiry into the investigating officer for framing charges without sufficient material. The CBI promptly appealed, and when the matter came before Justice Sharma on March 9, the judge, before hearing the discharged accused, observed that the trial court's findings appeared "prima facie erroneous" and stayed the departmental action order against the CBI officer.

Sensing a credibility issue, Kejriwal's camp wrote to Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya on March 11 seeking a bench transfer, citing a "grave, bona fide, and reasonable apprehension" of partiality, but the transfer request was formally rejected on March 13. With that avenue closed, the accused have now pivoted to a direct recusal application, and Kejriwal has indicated he will personally argue the matter.

Justice Sharma's early intervention set the collision in motion: by recording, at the very first hearing, that the trial court's discharge order was "prima facie erroneous" before affording the accused any opportunity to respond, the bench triggered the impartiality concerns now at the heart of the recusal bid.

The judge had simultaneously stayed that portion of the trial court's order directing departmental action against the CBI's investigating officer, the officer whom the Trial Court had found to have "abused" his official position, and also asked the ED court handling the linked money laundering case to await the outcome of the CBI appeal, effectively freezing parallel proceedings.