New Delhi. In a big relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail till June 1 to campaign for his Aam Aadmi Party in the Lok Sabha elections. Kejriwal, arrested by ED in an alleged money laundering case related to Delhi’s repealed liquor policy, will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2 after the campaign is over.
Arvind Kejriwal had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against his arrest in this case, on which the bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta, while hearing it, gave immediate relief to CM Kejriwal and granted him interim bail for the election campaign. In this case, a vigorous debate was seen between Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for CM Kejriwal.
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In this case, SG Tushar Mehta and ASG SV Raju opposed the grant of interim bail to AAP chief Kejriwal for election campaign, saying that there is no such precedent. He also underlined before the court that CM Kejriwal did not appear before the ED despite being given 9 summons by it.
On this, the Supreme Court bench said that the ED has rightly said that Kejriwal did not appear despite its 9 notices, the first of which was issued in October 2023. The court said, ‘This is a negative aspect, but there are many other facts which we have to consider.’ The bench told the ED that ‘Kejriwal is a leader of a national party and the Chief Minister of Delhi. He remained out for one and a half years. He could have been arrested earlier or later, but nothing happened.
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Underlining the importance of the Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court said, ‘Out of approximately 97 crore voters, 65-70 crore voters will cast their votes to elect the government of this country for the next five years. General elections provide vibrancy to democracy. The bench said that the ED’s ‘Enforcement Case Information Report’ (ECIR) was filed in August 2022, while the Chief Minister was arrested on March 21 this year. In such a situation, granting interim bail to Kejriwal for 21 days will not make much difference.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal’s lawyer Abhishek Singhvi requested him to be granted interim bail till June 5, but the bench did not accept that he should be granted interim bail till June 5 and directed him to surrender again on June 2. The court said that details of the reasons for granting interim bail to Kejriwal will be given later. The bench definitely said that the bail conditions of CM Arvind Kejriwal will be the same as were imposed in the case of AAP leader Sanjay Singh. Sanjay Singh was granted bail last month in connection with the same case.
Tags: Arvind kejriwal, Enforcement directorate, Supreme Court, tushar mehta
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 11, 2024, 11:13 IST