The Supreme Court on Tuesday hinted at granting interim bail to jailed Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy [Arvind Kejriwal v. Directorate of Enforcement].A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta did not pass any order yet but said that if interim bail is granted, Kejriwal should not discharge any official duties as Chief Minister."Suppose we grant interim bail on account of elections. Then if you say you will attend to office then it may have cascading effect.. Dr Singhvi if we give any interim bail we do not want you to be performing official duties as somewhere it will lead to conflict. We do not want interference at all in the working of the government," the Court remarked.However, in the same breath, the Court also remarked,"Let us see whether at all it (interim bail) should be given or not."Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, vehemently opposed the plea for interim bail."Please do not earmark a political leader as a separate class and let them not be separated from the common man. It is being stated that nothing was done (by ED) in 1.5 years and (he was) picked up during elections. That is not the correct impression at all," he said.Releasing him because he is a politician is not a correct precedent, the SG insisted."He chose to be a Chief Minister without a portfolio and it is done to accommodate some people. If bail is allowed, won't this be irreversible if the plea is allowed," the SG asked."No no, not irreversible," Justice Khanna replied.The Court also highlighted how Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was granted relief by the top court in a case against him."It happened in Arnab Goswami. Bombay High Court order was under challenge," Justice Datta remarked.The SG said that letting out Kejriwal citing elections will set a bad precedent and others will seek similar exemptions."The Court is allowing the doors of contingencies just to let out this one person and the public prosecutor will not be able to argue ever if a kirana owner comes. I know these are inconvenient arguments," he said.However, the Court said it was not creating any special exemption for politicians but was only passing the order taking into account the fact that the general elections are due."We are not going by whether he is a politician or not a politician. Every individual involved will have a special circumstance or case involved. We have to see if that person falls under that special circumstance considering elections are there. We are not saying there is a different law for others," the Court made it clear.Since it could not complete the hearing today, it said that that the matter will be heard again on May 9 or next week.The Bench was hearing the plea filed by Kejriwal challenging his arrest and remand by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader moved the Supreme Court for relief after the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea in the matter.
TAGS: Supreme Court Arvind Kejriwal interim bail money laundering case Enforcement Directorate Delhi excise policy elections
