Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday (July 12) hailed the Supreme Court decision to grant interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister on his plea challenging arrest by the ED in the alleged liquor scam case. A bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna pronounced the judgement and referred Kejriwal's petition challenging his arrest by the ED to a larger bench.
AAP holds press conference after verdict
Delhi Minister Atishi, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj, held a press conference and slammed the BJP for "hatching a conspiracy" against the AAP. The ruling party asked the saffron party why Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI and asked it to "end its arrogance".
"BJP knew that he (Arvind Kejriwal) has been granted bail by the Rouse Avenue Court, they know that he will get bail by the Supreme Court too. That is why, they hatched another conspiracy and the day on which the bail hearing was scheduled to come up before the Supreme Court, they made CBI arrest Arvind Kejriwal a day before that. Why was he arrested by the CBI? Because if he received bail in ED case, he would come out of jail and work for the people of Delhi 10 times faster... I would like to tell the BJP today, one after the other - every court in this country has exposed your conspiracy... every court is granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal. I would like to tell BJP, end your arrogance and stop hatching conspiracy against other parties. Truth can be troubled but not defeated..." she said.
AAP National General Secretary Organisation and MP Sandeep Pathak said, "This is definitely a relief... When they can't stop this party, they jail all the leaders of the party. So, in such a situation, the Supreme Court order is very soothing. I believe that party is not important, the country is. It is very important in the national interest, that a dictator doesn't attempt to finish off a party like this. So, such decisions should be written in golden letters in the history of the country..."
AAP rejoices on Twitter
AAP took to X, formerly Twitter, and said "Satyameva Jayate".
"PMLA is a black law. The provisions for bail under this are so difficult that it is almost impossible to get bail... First, the lower court granted him bail and observed that "ED is acting with bias"... So, today's bail by the Supreme Court is a huge thing. Centre had anticipated that Supreme Court would grant him bail in the ED matter. So, to ensure that he continues to be in jail even after bail, the CBI arrested him... The burden of proof lies on the CBI. So, I don't think there will be much issue. It's just a matter of time, Arvind Kejriwal will come out of jail," Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
Kejriwal's interim bail
The apex court, while referring Kejriwal's petition challenging his arrest by the ED to a larger bench, said, "Kejriwal suffered for 90 days in jail. He is an elected leader and it is up to him whether he wants to continue in the role of CM or not".
On May 17, the bench, also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta, had reserved its verdict on Kejriwal's plea. The apex court had on April 15 sought a response from the ED on Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest in the money laundering case. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief has challenged in the top court the April 9 order of the Delhi High Court that had upheld his arrest in the case.
The high court had upheld Kejriwal's arrest in the case, saying there was no illegality about it and that the ED was left with "little option" after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.
However, the ED had moved the Delhi High Court the next day and contended that the trial court's order granting bail to Kejriwal was "perverse", "one-sided" and "wrong-sided" and that the findings were based on irrelevant facts.
The high court, on June 21, imposed an interim stay on the trial court's bail order till passing of an order on ED's application for interim relief. On June 25, the high court had passed a detailed order staying the trial court order.
Arvind Kejriwal was also arrested by the CBI on June 26 in connection with the corruption case related to the alleged excise policy scam. The matter relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which has now been scrapped.
ALSO READ | Arvind Kejriwal gets interim bail from Supreme Court in liquor policy case
