New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam case, till June 1, 2024, allowing him to campaign for his party in the ongoing Lok Sabha election. The apex court said Kejriwal will have to surrender on June 2, while refusing to keep him enlarged on bail till June 5.
A bench comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta granted interim relief to Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and additional solicitor general (ASG) S V Raju, representing the ED, vehemently argued that the apex court should direct Kejriwal to not speak to the media about the case.
The bench said it had already restrained AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who was granted bail in the same case in April, from making any comment on the case. The apex court said Kejriwal will have to surrender before the jail authorities on June 2. Detailed order in the matter will be uploaded soon, the court said.
The apex court was hearing a petition filed by Kejriwal challenging his arrest and remand by the ED in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. The Delhi High Court had earlier rejected his plea, leading to the present appeal before the apex court.
Earlier this week, the apex court had stressed that it will hear AAP leader’s bail plea as elections are going on and that he needs to campaign, and also, he is an elected Chief Minister. "This is an extraordinary situation. It is not like he is a habitual offender. Elections happen once in five years. It's not like harvesting a crop that will happen every four to six months,” the bench said, adding that the court will have to consider whether he should be released on interim bail.
The ED on Thursday, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, opposed interim bail for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, jailed in the Delhi liquor policy case.
The ED stressed that the right to campaign for elections was "not fundamental" and there are numerous examples where politicians contested elections in judicial custody and some have even won but were never granted interim bail on this ground.
The apex court had on Wednesday hinted that it may pronounce its order on Kejriwal’s interim bail plea. The affidavit, filed by ED's Deputy Director Bhanu Priya, said that it is relevant to note that the right to campaign for an election is neither a fundamental right nor a constitutional right and not even a legal right.
On Tuesday, the bench hinted at granting interim bail to Kejriwal to enable him to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, it had also said that if interim bail were granted, Kejriwal would not be allowed to discharge any official duties as Chief Minister. ED had opposed his bail in the top court, which was hearing arguments on interim bail for Kejriwal.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing ED, told the bench at an earlier hearing that there can't be any deviation only because Kejriwal is Chief Minister and asked if the Supreme Court is carving out exceptions for politicians. "How can a Chief Minister be treated differently from an aam aadmi? There can't be any deviation only because he is a chief minister. Would campaigning for elections be more important?" he had told the bench.
To this, the bench said that elections are held once every five years. Meanwhile, the legal team of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, has raised a strong objection to the affidavit filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposing interim bail in the Supreme Court. A formal complaint has been lodged with the Supreme Court's registry denouncing the ED's affidavit as a blatant disregard of legal procedures, especially considering that the matter is already slated for a final decision in the SC today and the affidavit was submitted without the SC's approval.
Questioning the ED's objection to the interim bail of CM Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP said that it is well known that even after two years of investigation by the ED in the alleged liquor scam, not a single rupee or piece of evidence has been "recovered" incriminating anybody in the Aam Aadmi Party.
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