‘As long as she remains a judge, I will not set foot…’, Kejriwal’s insistence before which the High Court had to bow down

Opening a front against the judge, hurling his arguments from the court to social media and even announcing a complete boycott of the court proceedings… this high-voltage drama was going on in Delhi politics for a long time. But now former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has finally agreed to attend the hearing in the High Court of the case related to the alleged liquor scam. This U-turn of Aam Aadmi Party has surprised everyone as to how Kejriwal, who was not ready to go to court till yesterday, suddenly agreed today.

U-turn of Kejriwal, Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak

The court of Justice Manoj Jain of Delhi High Court has recently been informed that ‘Vakalatnama’ has been submitted to three lawyers on behalf of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak. This step has made it clear that the top leaders of AAP have completely changed their old and tough stand of boycotting the court.

This possibility was already being expressed in political circles. It was believed that Justice Swarn Kanta Sharma had fulfilled the condition that Kejriwal had put before the court, even if he had taken this decision only after taking strict action against the AAP leaders.

Talking on this matter, the court said that if he has filed the Vakalatnama, then in the next hearing it can be decided what date should be given and the complete further schedule can be prepared. At present, the court has postponed further hearing to ensure the presence of lawyers, as the lawyers were on strike on the day of the hearing. Let us tell you that ‘Vakalatnama’ is a legal document through which a lawyer is authorized to represent his client in the court.

After all, what was that condition of Arvind Kejriwal?

Now the question arises that how did this sudden change in the stance of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak happen? Actually, the reason for this is that Justice Swarn Kanta Sharma has transferred this entire matter to another bench. With this, the big demand of the AAP leaders was fulfilled, due to which they had completely distanced themselves from the court proceedings.

Kejriwal had earlier openly declared that he would never be a part of the liquor scam hearing going on in Justice Sharma’s court. He had clearly said that he would neither appear in the court himself nor send any lawyer there on his behalf. Later, Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak also reiterated the same point while agreeing with Kejriwal.

The main condition of Arvind Kejriwal was that he would not be a part of any legal proceedings of Justice Swarn Kanta Sharma in which the other party was the BJP government at the Center or the CBI. Kejriwal said that if his case comes up in the court of Justice Swarn Kanta with any party other than the Center or the CBI, he will have no objection in appearing. Now that this entire matter has been shifted to another bench, Kejriwal and other leaders have made up their mind to face the legal process.

Why did Kejriwal boycott the court?

The story behind this whole controversy is very interesting. Arvind Kejriwal had expressed many serious doubts on the impartiality of Justice Swarn Kanta Sharma. He had openly said that he would never get justice from this court. The former Chief Minister of Delhi had made serious allegations against Justice Sharma of ‘conflict of interest’ and attending the program of an organization associated with RSS.

The AAP chief had said in his argument that both the children of Justice Sharma are included in the panel of lawyers of the Central Government. Not only this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing CBI, allots the case to him. Kejriwal claimed that under such circumstances, Justice Sharma can never give an impartial decision against the CBI, hence he does not trust this court.

Why did Justice Swarn Kanta Sharma leave this case?

Initially, Justice Swarn Kanta Sharma had completely rejected the petition of Arvind Kejriwal, in which he had sought recusal from this case. However, the matter did not rest here. Later, citing the dignity of the court, Justice Sharma initiated ‘criminal contempt’ proceedings against six big leaders of Aam Aadmi Party including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia. Along with this, citing legal rules and procedures, he ordered to transfer this high-profile case to another bench, after which Kejriwal is now ready to present his side in the court.