Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday wrote a letter to Delhi High Court judge Swarana Kanta Sharma stating that he had decided to follow Mahatma Gandhi's path of Satyagraha and would not appear before her in the excise case either personally or through a lawyer.
The letter came a week after Justice Sharma's decision not to recuse herself from hearing the CBI's appeal against the trial court order discharging Kejriwal and others in the liquor policy case.
Kejriwal, who posted the letter on X, said his hope for getting justice from Justice Sharma had been shattered and he took the decision after observing that the proceedings being conducted in her court did not satisfy the fundamental principle that "justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done".
"Taking inspiration from the Gandhian principle of Satyagraha, and after giving the authority an opportunity to consider and correct what I perceived to be a grave miscarriage of justice, I have decided that I shall not participate in the further proceedings in this matter, either in person or through counsel," Kejriwal wrote, asserting that "he is prepared to bear the adverse consequences".
Under Order 17, Rule 2 of the Civil Procedure Code, the court can pass an ex parte order. If the respondent does not appear despite repeated directives, the court can decide the case without the respondent.