Delhi HC issues notices to journalist, AAP’s Gopal Rai in contempt case

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notices to journalist Saurav Das and Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai on a criminal contempt of court petition filed against them for allegedly running a coordinated campaign to target Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, Bar and Bench reported.

However, the division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja did not issue notices to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, who were the two other respondents in the matter, as they are already facing contempt proceedings that the High Court had initiated suo motu in the matter.

The matter initiated by the court and the petition against Das and Rai filed by a lawyer will be heard together.

The lawyer filed the petition after receiving consent from the Additional Standing Counsel (Criminal) Sanjeev Bhandari of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Delhi.

The petitioner argued that Das, Rai, Kejriwal and Bharadwaj initiated an allegedly concerted and orchestrated campaign on social media platform X by publishing and amplifying posts that made “serious, unfounded and scandalous allegations” against Sharma, Bar and Bench reported.

The posts alleged “a supposed conflict of interest, bias and impropriety, based on misleading assertions relating to the professional engagements” of the family members of the judge, the plea was quoted as having argued.

The allegedly coordinated...

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