A criminal contempt petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and journalist Saurav Das, alleging that they were part of a concerted campaign aimed at targeting Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma and undermining the dignity of the judiciary.
The matter is slated to be heard on Friday by a Division Bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja. Besides Kejriwal and Das, senior AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai have also been named as respondents in the case.
The petition has been moved through advocate Ashok Chaitanya after obtaining consent from the Delhi government’s Additional Standing Counsel (Criminal), Sanjeev Bhandari, a procedural requirement in criminal contempt proceedings.
The case has also brought renewed attention to the role and conduct of Saurav Das, who has repeatedly drawn criticism over his writings and social media interventions concerning the judiciary. Das is accused of running a pattern of narrative-driven hit-jobs against judges and judicial officers whose observations, orders, or verdicts allegedly do not align with his broader political and ideological worldview.
Over the years, Das has published sharply critical pieces targeting members of the higher judiciary, including former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Bela M Trivedi. Das, through his polemical writings, attempts to cast aspersions on judicial integrity, selectively framing administrative decisions, and creating a narrative around alleged institutional bias whenever court rulings are perceived as being unfavourable to the wider left-liberal ecosystem.
There was a recurring pattern where judicial decisions concerning politically sensitive matters were followed by aggressive commentary targeting the judges themselves, raising concerns about attempts to shape public perception around the judiciary through ideological lenses rather than legal arguments. The contempt petition now places these broader allegations under a sharper spotlight as the matter reaches the Delhi High Court.
