Kumar Bahukhandi
New Delhi: Supreme Court will hear bail plea of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today. In the petition, CM Kejriwal has challenged his arrest in the case of alleged irregularities in the excise policy. In this case, he is under investigation by CBI. A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan will hear two petitions of CM Kejriwal, separately challenging the Delhi High Court’s August 5 decision confirming his arrest and refusing bail. After Manish Sisodia got bail in the Delhi liquor policy scam case, Aam Aadmi Party is hoping that Kejriwal will also get bail soon.
Let us inform , you that on Monday August 12 , when senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi on behalf of CM Kejriwal requested to list it urgently, the Supreme Court agreed to hear his petition. In the petitions filed on Monday August 12 , Kejriwal questioned the Delhi High Court’s August 5 verdict, which said that his arrest was neither illegal nor without any reasonable ground as the CBI had produced sufficient evidence to justify his detention and remand. Kejriwal’s plea was largely based on the Sisodia case, in which the Supreme Court had held that the former deputy chief minister’s 17-month-long incarceration and his continued detention in such a case was violative of his fundamental right to liberty and speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief’s plea argued that the grounds on which the court found it fit to release Sisodia on bail should be equally applicable to him. Kejriwal’s plea emphasised the Supreme Court’s observations in the Sisodia case. It said that prolonged incarceration without trial could be a violation of fundamental rights, especially when the investigation is substantially complete. Kejriwal argued through his petition that he, like Sisodia, fulfils these criteria and hence should be granted bail on this basis. It may be noted that Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21. However, in May, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail for 21 days to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
