“The thick walls and bars of the jail cannot break me,” Kejriwal stated before holding a roadshow. He is the third prominent AAP leader to secure bail in the Delhi excise policy case, following former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.
NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was released from Tihar Jail on Friday(13th Sept), shortly after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the CBI case related to the alleged excise policy scam. The court ruled that extended imprisonment would be an “unjust deprivation of liberty.”
Additionally, the Supreme Court stressed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) needs to shed the perception of being a “caged parrot.” The bail was a significant relief for the 56-year-old Aam Aadmi Party leader, particularly with the Haryana Assembly elections approaching and the Delhi elections looming. The court also stated that Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI was unjustified.
Kejriwal, who was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the same case, and later by the CBI for investigating corruption allegations, walked out of Tihar Jail after spending 155 days behind bars. The AAP leader, who had previously been granted interim bail for three weeks in the ED case, was greeted with a rousing welcome from his party leaders and supporters, despite heavy rain.
Standing through the sunroof of an SUV, Kejriwal, dressed in a half-sleeved blue shirt, chanted slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ as he addressed the gathering.
“These anti-national forces, which are trying to weaken and divide the nation… I have always fought against them and will continue to do so,” he declared, raising the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai.’
“I have faced many struggles and overcome significant challenges in my life, but God has stood by me at every turn. He supported me because I was truthful. They put me in jail, thinking it would break my spirit. Instead, my resolve has become 100 times stronger, and so has my strength,” he added.
“The thick walls and bars of the jail cannot break me,” Kejriwal stated before holding a roadshow. He is the third prominent AAP leader to secure bail in the Delhi excise policy case, following former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.
However, the Delhi BJP called for Kejriwal’s resignation, arguing that he is unable to fulfill the responsibilities of his office under the conditions of his bail.
Despite the Supreme Court bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan relaxing some bail conditions in the CBI case, Kejriwal is still prohibited from visiting the Delhi Secretariat or signing any official documents.
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The bench retained only two bail conditions:
- Kejriwal must attend every trial court hearing unless exempted, and he must fully cooperate to ensure a conclusion of the trial.
- It lifted the previous conditions that barred the chief minister from visiting the Delhi Secretariat or signing official files.
However, this relief cannot be enforced immediately, as a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna had imposed these restrictions on May 10 and July 12, stating that only a larger constitution bench can modify or recall them. To seek these modifications, Kejriwal will need to request the Chief Justice of India to convene a larger bench.
Despite this, the AAP maintained that Kejriwal is “fully empowered” to guide his ministers to ensure that governance continues in the public interest. According to the party’s statement, Kejriwal heads the council of ministers and supervises all governance through various department heads.
The Supreme Court also set several other conditions for Kejriwal’s release, including that he must furnish bail bonds worth Rs. 10 lakh, with two sureties of the same amount, to the satisfaction of the trial court.
The appellant is prohibited from making public comments on the merits of the CBI case, as it remains sub judice before the trial court. The court explained that this condition was necessary to discourage the growing trend of creating self-serving narratives on public platforms.
On July 12, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the ED’s money laundering case connected to the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy. However, he remained in jail as he had been arrested by the CBI on June 26. Earlier, the court had granted him three weeks of interim bail in May, allowing him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
The court noted that the trial’s conclusion was not imminent and dismissed the CBI’s concerns about possible tampering by Kejriwal.
While both Justice Kant and Justice Bhuyan agreed on granting bail, they differed on the legality of Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI.
In a separate judgment, Justice Bhuyan questioned the timing of Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI, suggesting that the agency intended to hinder the bail granted to him in the ED case. On the other hand, Justice Kant saw no legal issue with the CBI’s arrest.
Justice Bhuyan expressed confusion over the CBI’s urgency to arrest Kejriwal right before his release in the ED case, especially when the agency had not acted for 22 months. He further noted that the CBI could not justify the arrest and detention based on Kejriwal’s evasive responses, adding that non-cooperation does not equate to self-incrimination.
In his judgment, Justice Bhuyan emphasized that the CBI, as a premier investigative agency, must not only act with integrity but also be perceived as doing so.
“Every effort should be made to eliminate any perception that the investigation was unfair or that the arrest was conducted in a biased and heavy-handed manner.”
“In a democracy governed by the rule of law, perception is crucial. Like Caesar’s wife, an investigative agency must be beyond reproach. This court recently criticized the CBI, likening it to a caged parrot. It is essential for the CBI to shed that image and instead be seen as an uncaged parrot,” Justice Bhuyan remarked.
“The CBI must work to dispel the notion of being a caged parrot and demonstrate that it operates as an uncaged parrot.”
Justice Bhuyan stated that “it would be a travesty of justice to keep the chief minister in custody when he has been granted bail in the ED case on similar grounds”.
He also expressed serious reservations about the bail conditions in the ED case, which prohibit Kejriwal from entering the Chief Minister’s office and signing official documents. However, he refrained from commenting further on these conditions, citing judicial discipline as they pertained to a separate ED case.
Kejriwal had filed two petitions one challenging the denial of bail and the other contesting his arrest by the CBI in the corruption case brought by the central agency.
Justice Kant held that Kejriwal’s arrest did not involve any procedural errors, stating that the CBI adhered to the procedure outlined in Section 41A of the CrPC.
While the arrest met the legal requirements, Justice Kant emphasized that keeping Kejriwal in continued custody would violate established legal principles and infringe upon his right to liberty.
The Delhi excise policy, which was scrapped in 2022, came under investigation after the lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption in its formulation and execution.
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