Bansuri Swaraj hails HC order in liquor policy case

BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj on Tuesday hailed Delhi High Court Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma’s order not to recuse herself from hearing the liquor policy case involving former chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and others.

Addressing a press conference here, Swaraj said the court’s decision reaffirms judicial independence and rejects attempts by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to run a coordinated campaign to build pressure on the court.

“Kejriwal is a bully who tried to pressurise a female member of the judiciary. It was not about a judge change but a game change and narrative control by AAP, a drama company,” Swaraj alleged. “What lends a deeper disquiet is the attempt to attach a media narrative, including vilification without any accountability. This court has proceeded to decide the matter uninfluenced by any such pressure,” she said, quoting from the High Court order.

“A courtroom cannot be a theatre of perception. It is a space where doubt must yield to reason. The reputation of a judge cannot be so fragile that it would yield without proof to insinuations,” Swaraj, who is still a lawyer by profession, said.

Kejriwal had raised several objections against Justice Sharma hearing the CBI’s plea against his discharge in the liquor-policy case, including that she had earlier denied him relief on his petition challenging his arrest and refused to grant relief on the bail pleas of other accused, including Manish Sisodia and K Kavitha.

In a sharp attack, the New Delhi MP said, “The kind of attack and allegations they made against a woman judge — against her family, her children, against her as a mother — were clearly aimed at pressuring her to recuse herself from the case.”

“But I want to remind and warn Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party that whenever a woman has been insulted in this country’s history, those responsible — along with their entire support system — have faced destruction,” she said.

She further accused the party of being “anti-women”, saying, “The Aam Aadmi Party is the same party that voted against the Women’s Reservation Amendment (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam), which would have ensured that 33 per cent reservation in state legislative assemblies and Parliament is implemented from 2029 itself.”