NEW DELHI, 13 Sep: 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 that prolonged incarceration amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan granted the relief to Kejriwal on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 10 lakhs, and two sureties of like amount.
Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy case on 21 March, had been granted interim bail on 10 May for campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls and has been in jail since 2 June when he surrendered.
The top court directed Kejriwal not to make any public comment on the merits of the case and added that terms and conditions as imposed in the ED case would also be applicable here.
Justice Bhuyan, who wrote a separate judgement, concurred with Justice Kant on grant of bail.
However, Justice Bhuyan questioned the timing of Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI and said that the agency’s 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.
He said that the CBI can’t justify arrest and continued detention citing evasive replies by Kejriwal, and added that non-cooperation cannot mean self-incrimination.
It would be travesty of justice to keep Kejriwal in custody when he has got bail in the ED case on the same grounds, Justice Bhuyan said. (PTI)
