India, April 20 -- Delhi High Court judge Swarana Kanta Sharma on Monday said the mere apprehension that one may not get relief from a court cannot be a grounds for recusal of a judge from a case, as she dismissed the recusal pleas filed by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and others in the liquor policy case.

"If this court was to recuse, it would be an act of surrender and a signal that institution including judge and the court can be bent, shaken and changed. Applications seeking recusal are rejected," she ruled, and further said, "Personal apprehension have not been able to pass the threshold of the apprehension of bias. Recusal has to step from law, and not from narrative; and this is a defining moment for the court."

She gave a number of...