SC grants bail to Kejriwal in excise policy case
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the corruption case lodged by the CBI in connection with the excise policy ‘scam’, saying prolonged incarceration amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty.
Granting the relief, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said completion of trial was unlikely in the immediate future and rejected the apprehension of tampering by Kejriwal.
Even as he concurred with Justice Kant on grant of bail, Justice Bhuyan in his separate judgement questioned the timing of his arrest and said the CBI aim was to frustrate grant of bail to him in the ED case.
“I fail to understand the CBI’s urgency to arrest Kejriwal on cusp of release in the ED case when it did not do so for 22 months,” Justice Bhuyan said, adding that the CBI can’t justify arrest and continued detention citing evasive replies by Kejriwal, and added that non-cooperation cannot mean self-incrimination.
“The CBI must dispel the notion of being a caged parrot, must show it is an uncaged parrot,” he said. It would be travesty of justice to keep Kejriwal in custody when he has got bail in the ED case on the same grounds, he said.
Justice Bhuyan said he has serious reservations on the conditions imposed in the ED case which bar him from entering the CM’s office and signing files. “I am not commenting on conditions imposed on Kejriwal due to judicial discipline, as it was in a separate ED case,” he added.
I fail to understand the CBI’s urgency to arrest Kejriwal on cusp of release in the ED case when it did not do so for 22 months... The CBI must dispel notion of being a caged parrot, must show it is an uncaged parrot — Justice Ujjal Bhuyan