Justice Manoj Jain will be the one to hear the revision plea in what is being called the liquor policy scam. Over in a Division Bench with Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja, they will be mulling over the contempt issue, which has its roots in public and online comments made in the wake of an earlier recusal row.
The court will address parallel strands with immediate political and institutional stakes for Delhi:
– CBI’s revision against discharge in the excise policy case
– Suo motu contempt against AAP leaders over social media remarks
How the cases got here
The way the day is arranged is a matter of some reassignment. It was Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma who had the excise file and also put in motion the contempt case. But seeing as there was an overlap of parties in both, she has now passed the excise side of things along.
To get to where we are: on February 27, the trial court let go of 23 accused in the excise case – Kejriwal, Sisodia, K Kavitha and others – and had some words to say about the CBI’s work. The CBI is now before the High Court with a revision, and the ED has come in on its own to ask for some unflattering remarks from the trial court to be put to rest.
Things got more charged after Kejriwal was put behind bars during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He was eventually bailed by the Supreme Court after 156 days in; Sisodia has put in 530.
Recusal flashpoint and the contempt trigger
The whole contempt thing goes back to when Justice Sharma would not step aside from hearing the CBI and ED in the excise matter. In a 68-page order on May 14, she said there were moves afoot to undermine faith in the judiciary, pointing to a number of posts, videos and letters. Not long after, the leaders in question made it known, through their lawyers, that they would have nothing to do with any more of her hearings. With the people in the dock for contempt also being part of the excise case, she saw fit to list the latter before a different Bench.
New Bench, different lens
So now it is up to Justice Manoj Jain to deal with the CBI and the ED. By the numbers, he is the one for criminal work – bail, appeals, the like. He is also taking on all of Justice Sharma’s 2021 criminal revisions, with the exception of those involving current or former members of parliament and the assembly.
Why Justice Jain’s docket experience matters
Jain has been in the system for a while. A 1986 law graduate from Panjab University, he joined the Delhi Judicial Service in ’92 and made his way up to the Higher Judicial Service in 2003. Before he was elevated as an additional judge in 2023 (and made permanent in 2024), he was the Registrar General and ran the academics at the Delhi Judicial Academy. His record shows he has seen his share of high-profile files, from the 2020 riots to a land deal case involving Robert Vadra and a challenge by Lalu Prasad.
Contempt case: who is in the dock
As for the contempt side, the Division Bench will be weighing in on seven AAP leaders – the likes of Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Devesh Vishwakarma and the rest – for putting out material the court has found to be in poor taste.
What to watch on May 19th
Justice Sharma has been clear that moving the excise case isn’t her caving to recusal demands. That’s water under the bridge. The immediate issues are a matter of procedure, but they are not without import. In the excise case, the court’s stance on the CBI and ED will set the pace. In the contempt matter, it will be a test of how far you can go with public commentary. Either way, it could define the road ahead for the AAP.
