On Friday, the Supreme Court granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been jailed for the last six months in the alleged liquor policy scam. The chief minister was granted bail for a few days two months ago ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections. Last week, in the final hearing before the court withdrew to decide, Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, pointed out his client had already satisfied the ‘triple test’ legal principle for bail, since the same court had given him bail in the ED case.
‘There is no impediment in arresting a person already in custody’, said the Supreme Court. Notably, the CBI had arrested Kejriwal while he was still in the judicial custody. On September 5, during the hearing in the Supreme Court, Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, had said that the CBI did not arrest the Delhi CM for nearly two years in the alleged excise policy scam.
Singhvi stated an insurance arrest was made on June 26 after he got bail in the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED arrested Kejriwal on March 24 this year, and the CBI arrested him on June 25. Justice Surya Kant, who was among the judges delivering the verdict on Friday, said, ‘We have noted that the CBI, in their application, recorded reasons as to why they deemed it necessary. There is no violation of S.41A(iii)’.
On Kejriwal’s bail, Justice Surya Kant said, ‘A developed jurisprudence on bail is needed for a developed society and prolonged incarceration of accused while trial is on cannot be justified and it has been held in judgments of this court, the court would bend towards liberty when trial is derailed. After have discussed article 21’. The court said that it has framed three questions based on arguments. ‘We have framed 3 questions. Whether there was illegality in arrest, whether appellant should be allowed regular bail, whether filing of chargesheet is change in circumstance enough to relegate to TC,” Justices Surya Kant was quoted by Live Law as saying.
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