Arvind Kejriwal gets bail in Delhi liquor policy case: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal got bail on Friday, 13 September in the CBI case related to Delhi liquor policy. Kejriwal will come out of jail after 177 days. The court has imposed the same conditions for bail as were imposed while granting bail in the ED case.
Two investigation agencies (ED and CBI) have registered cases against Kejriwal. He got bail from the Supreme Court in the ED case on July 12. AAP has called this decision a victory of truth. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in the liquor policy case. Later on June 26, the CBI took him into custody from jail.
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The bench of two judges is unanimous on bail, but has different opinion on arrest
The bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan said that the arrest by CBI was as per the rules. The court said –
‘Keeping Kejriwal in jail despite getting bail in the ED case would be a mockery of justice. The power of arrest should be used very thoughtfully.
Justice Surya Kant said:
1. If a person is already in custody, it is not wrong to arrest him again in connection with the investigation. CBI has explained why his investigation was necessary.
2. The arrest of the petitioner is not illegal. CBI has not violated any rules. They needed to investigate. That is why arrests were made in this case.
Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan said:
1. CBI’s arrest raises more questions than answers. As soon as they get bail in ED case, CBI becomes active. In such a situation, questions arise about the time of arrest.
2. The CBI must appear impartial and every effort must be made to ensure that arrests are not arbitrary. The perception of the investigating agency as a caged parrot must be dispelled.
Liquor policy case- Kejriwal, who spent 156 days in jail,
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by ED on 21 March. After 10 days of interrogation, he was sent to Tihar Jail on 1 April. On 10 May, he was released for 21 days to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. This release was granted after spending 51 days in jail. On 2 June, Kejriwal surrendered in Tihar Jail.
If Kejriwal is released today, i.e. on 13th September, then it will be 177 days since he was in jail. Out of this, he was on interim bail for 21 days. That means Kejriwal has spent a total of 156 days in jail so far.
How Will Kejriwal’s Exit Impact Haryana? If AAP Rises, Who Stands to Lose?
After Arvind Kejriwal release from jail, the morale of the Aam Aadmi Party will be high. His party has fielded its candidates on all 90 seats in Haryana. Therefore, it now seems that the election battle in Haryana will be fierce.
Apart from Congress and BJP, AAP is a major party in Haryana. AAP’s influence is considered to be good in this state adjacent to Delhi. In 2019, AAP fielded its candidates on 46 seats of Haryana Legislative Assembly. However, at that time its vote share was just one percent. A lot of water has flown in the Yamuna since then. Aam Aadmi Party looks like a good option for those who do not want to vote for Congress or BJP. Delhi, which was a stronghold of BJP for a long time, has become a stronghold of AAP at least at the legislative level.
How much impact will it have on Congress-BJP?
Congress has been struggling with the fight between different factions in Haryana even before the ticket distribution. Whereas this time there has been a lot of upheaval in the cadre-based party BJP. Before the elections, Congress wanted to send a message across the country that its India Alliance is successful. Also, it could get the benefit of AAP. In this regard, Congress kept trying to form an alliance with AAP. It is believed that due to the lack of agreement on seats, Arvind Kejriwal himself took the decision of not forming an alliance. This decision seems right for him at the moment.
Many issues are seen going here and there in Haryana. The sentiments of sportspersons are respected everywhere in the state. Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia have already joined the Congress. They were working in the Railways. Both these sportspersons resigned from there and joined the Congress. Out of these, Vinesh Phogat has been fielded by the Congress party from Julana seat.
In this way, Vinesh, who opposed Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, is now fighting against BJP. BJP has not given tickets to many old leaders. Savitri Jindal is also included in this. Savitri, who belongs to a big industrial family, is contesting the election as an independent. Many other leaders are also angry due to not getting tickets from the party. However, Congress also faces no less challenges. Till the tickets were given, three factions in the party were clearly visible. Even now it cannot be said that these three factions will fight the elections together.
JJP and Azad Samaj Party are fighting all the seats in the state under the alliance. In the last assembly elections, JJP got more than 13 percent votes but in the Lok Sabha elections, JJP’s share fell below one percent to 0.87. In such a situation, Kejriwal will give a boost to his campaign after coming out of jail. He will also tell stories of crimes committed against him and his party. If AAP’s campaign gains momentum, then Haryana elections can be more interesting this time.
CBI’s argument failed, know what was Singhvi’s argument due to which Kejriwal got bail
In the Delhi liquor policy case, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the fourth AAP leader to be released from jail in the last 35 days. Manish Sisodia, K. Kavitha, Vijay Nair are already out on bail in this case. The strong arguments of their lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi played a big role in getting this big relief to the Aam Aadmi Party leaders. After the interim bail from ED, the strong arguments of Singhvi in the Supreme Court also helped in getting relief in the CBI case on Friday. The arguments of the CBI opposing the bail did not stand. On Friday, one of Singhvi’s arguments was strong in getting bail for Kejriwal, which was also accepted by the judges of the Supreme Court.
CBI woke up very late- Singhvi
In the Supreme Court, Kejriwal’s lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi questioned the way the CBI works and said that it became active when Kejriwal got bail from Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court. Singhvi argued in the court that the CBI had filed an FIR against Kejriwal in August 2022. The CBI became active to arrest Kejriwal when he got bail from the lower court. However, the High Court stayed his bail. After this, the CBI brought Kejriwal from jail to the court and arrested him.
CBI must dispel the notion that it is a caged parrot; it must show that it is not a caged parrot
– Justice Ujjwal on Arvind Kejriwal case
This doesn’t mean cooperation…
The Supreme Court has not yet considered Kejriwal’s arrest in both ED and CBI cases as wrong. The court has definitely raised questions about the working style of the CBI. Arvind Kejriwal will finally come out of jail after 5 months. The Supreme Court has granted him conditional bail in the Delhi liquor policy case. During this, Singhvi rejected the allegations of the CBI and said that cooperating in the investigation should not mean that the accused blames himself and confesses to the crimes.
Hasty ‘insurance arrest’
The Supreme Court had granted bail to several accused in the Delhi liquor policy case. In such a situation, there was every possibility that Arvind Kejriwal would also get bail and this is what happened. During the hearing of the case, Singhvi argued that the CBI did not arrest Arvind Kejriwal for two years after the FIR was filed, but made a hasty ‘insurance arrest’ to prevent his release in the money laundering case. He had said that the CBI arrested Kejriwal for ‘his non-cooperation and evasive answers’, but there are many decisions of the Supreme Court, which say that cooperation in the investigation should not mean that the accused incriminates himself and confesses to the alleged crimes. Singhvi had said that Kejriwal, a constitutional officer holding the post of Chief Minister of Delhi, has met the triple test for granting bail. There is no danger of him fleeing, he will come to answer the questions of the investigating agency and after two years, he cannot tamper with millions of pages of documents and digital evidence.
The CBI’s haste in arresting Kejriwal at the time of his release in the ED case is beyond comprehension, whereas it did not take any such step for 22 months.
– Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan
Kejriwal got bail on these conditions
1- Bail Granted: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been granted bail by the Supreme Court in the alleged excise policy scam case.
2- Surety Amount: Kejriwal secured bail after depositing two sureties of Rs 10 lakh each.
3- Public Comment Ban: The Supreme Court has prohibited public comments regarding the case.
4- Cooperation Required: The court has directed Kejriwal to cooperate in the ongoing investigation.
5- Previous Bail: Kejriwal had already secured bail in the related CBI case.
6- Differing Opinions: During the hearing, the two Supreme Court judges expressed differing views on the case.
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