Supreme Court Delays Decision on Arvind Kejriwal Bail Pending Delhi HC Order

Supreme Court Delays Decision on Arvind Kejriwal Bail Pending Delhi HC Order

Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, moved against the High Court’s temporary stay of a trial court ruling giving him bail in a money laundering case related to the purported excise scam, but the Supreme Court on Monday denied him relief. The highest court stated, “We will be prejudging the issue if we pass an order now.” Following Kejriwal’s bail award from the trial court on June 20, the Delhi High Court on Friday postponed his release. If the federal anti-money laundering agency hadn’t received an interim stay of action from the high court, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener, who was detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, would have been able to leave Tihar jail on Friday.

A high court vacation bench had stated, “Until the pronouncement of this order, the operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed,” and requested written responses from the parties by June 24. The plea hearing was scheduled for July 10 by the top court. In order to review all of the case files, the court had stated that it would be delaying the order for two to three days. It also sent Kejriwal a notice asking him to reply to the ED’s plea contesting the trial court’s June 20 bail decision.

In his high court appearance, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju argued on behalf of the ED that the trial court’s ruling was “perverse,” “one-sided,” and “wrong-sided,” and that the conclusions were based on unrelated evidence. He asserted that the special judge disregarded the pertinent information. Raju had argued that the ED was not given enough time to present its case and was seeking a stay of the trial court’s judgment.

Senior attorneys Abhishek Singhvi and Vikram Chaudhari, who were defending Kejriwal, fiercely fought the ED’s request for a stay of execution. They had argued that the ED, for which an individual’s liberty is a low priority, is not covered by Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees protection of life and personal liberty.

Also Read: Modi 3.0’s First Parliament Session: Opposition Armed with LS Mandate, NEET Controversy, and Key Wins Eyes ‘Acche Din’

In granting bail, the trial judge determined that Kejriwal’s guilt was not yet proven and that the ED had not shown concrete evidence connecting him to the money laundering case’s proceeds of crime. The excise policy was discontinued in 2022 as a result of the lieutenant governor of Delhi requesting that the CBI look into claims of corruption and irregularities in its creation and implementation.