Delhi HC says Kejriwal, Sisodia plea on ‘phansi ghar’ summons not maintainable

The restored site featured murals of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, along with a symbolic hanging rope and heritage-style red-brick walls.

The Delhi high court on Tuesday observed that the petitions filed by former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia challenging the summons issued by the Delhi Assembly’s Privileges Committee in connection with the controversial ‘phansi ghar’ (gallows chamber) are “prima facie not maintainable”.

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI)

A bench of justice Sachin Datta made the remark after the committee’s counsel Jayant Mehta questioned the maintainability of the petitions and sought to defer the hearing to Wednesday, citing his engagement in another matter before the Supreme Court.

However, Kejriwal and Sisodia’s counsel, Shadan Farasat, opposed the request, arguing that the Privileges Committee lacked the jurisdiction to issue the summons. Considering the submissions, the court adjourned the hearing to Wednesday. “Prima facie it is not maintainable. We’ll have it tomorrow,” justice Datta said.

The controversy over the ‘phansi ghar’ arose earlier this year when Speaker Vijender Gupta dismissed the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s claim that the room, converted in 2022 into a memorial honouring “martyrs”, had been used by the British to hang freedom fighters.

The restored site featured murals of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, along with a symbolic hanging rope and heritage-style red-brick walls. A plaque credited to Kejriwal and then Speaker Ram Niwas Goel carried an inscription stating, “Innumerable unknown freedom fighters have been hanged here.”

During the monsoon session in August, Gupta presented building maps suggesting that the chamber was, in fact, a service shaft or tiffin lift area, not a gallows. Following this, the area was renamed the ‘Tiffin Room’, and the plaque and symbolic elements were removed.

On November 4, the Privileges Committee issued summons to four AAP leaders, including Kejriwal and Sisodia, directing them to appear on November 13 to verify the authenticity of the “Phansi Ghar,” which had been restored and inaugurated during their previous term.

In their petition, the AAP leaders termed the notices “wholly extraneous to legislative privilege” and argued that they had been issued without following due procedure. They contended that the reference to verify the authenticity of ‘phansi ghar’ was beyond the remit of the Delhi Legislative Assembly and its Privileges Committee, since acts and omissions of the previous (7th) Assembly could not be inquired into by the present (8th) Assembly.

The petition, filed through advocate Talha Abdul Rehman, further stated that the committee had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the authenticity of the ‘phansi ghar’, as the matter had already been taken into account by the former Speaker and Deputy Speaker. It also claimed that the summons were issued without considering the leaders’ replies to a September notice seeking their comments on the memorial inaugurated within the Assembly premises.