He Is An Elected CM, Not Habitual Offender; Elections Held Once In 5 Yrs: Supreme Court On ED's Objection To Interim Bail For Arvind Kejriwal

While hearing Arvind Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in the Delhi Liquor Policy case, the Supreme Court today said that it cannot treat the Delhi Chief Minister as a habitual offender.The bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was considering the issue of granting Kejriwal interim bail when it expressed disapproval with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's comparison of his case with those of others languishing in jails.It was Mehta's case that politicians could not be treated as a class apart. He said if Kejriwal is granted interim bail for elections, why shouldn't jailed farmers be released during harvesting season.However, the bench made it clear that it was in no way carving out a separate legal position for a political leader; rather, it was looking at the issue from a larger perspective, particularly as Lok Sabha elections are held only once in 5 years."Look, there are 2-3 issues...one is, he is elected Chief Minister of Delhi. The elections are around the corner. These are extraordinary situations. He is not otherwise a habitual offender...or somebody who has been involved in many other cases...And elections are held once in 5 years. It's not like harvesting season every 6 months. We don't appreciate this."It may be recalled that on the last date, the court had expressed that it might consider the question of interim bail for the purposes of Lok Sabha Elections if the hearing gets delayed. Today, arguments were heard on the aspect and the matter tentatively posted day after tomorrow (ie May 9). If it is not taken on that day, Justice Khanna clarified, the hearing will be pushed to next week.The hearing saw Additional Solicitor General SV Raju make submissions on behalf of ED. The same were supplemented in part by SG Mehta and countered by Senior Advocate Dr. AM Singhvi (for Kejriwal). For about an hour, the counsels cumulatively addressed the court on the question of interim bail to Kejriwal.A brief account of the proceedings is given below. Questions about Kejriwal were not put to witnesses during initial investigation : ASG RajuFor a substantial part of the hearing, ASG Raju attempted to convey to the Court that the statements called "exculpatory" by Singhvi were not relevant at all. The ASG claimed that they did not say anything about Kejriwal, and questions were not even put about him to witnesses initially, as he was not the focus of ED's investigation.It was added that Kejriwal's role only came to light during the course of investigation. If the agency had put his name to witnesses at the outset, the same would have been called 'malafide'. Besides, it took time to confirm what witnesses were saying and unearth the whole conspiracy, Raju submitted."If I start asking about Kejriwal at the outset, it would have been called malafide. It takes time to understand. we can't put it overnight. Things have to be confirmed...one need not assume that whatever witness tells IO is...he may mislead the investigating agency...therefore, investigation need not go in a way that we go to accused first...there may be several hurdles."Common man's rights not lesser than CM's : SG MehtaAlongside Raju, Mehta vehemently objected to the grant of interim bail to Kejriwal on the ground of Lok Sabha elections. He submitted that Kejriwal avoided ED summons on 9 occasions and could not now be permitted to press election campaigning as an excuse.Mehta exclaimed that the grant of interim relief would set a wrong precedent, as it would give the idea that political leaders are a class apart. In support, the SG referred to cases of company MDs and other people languishing in jails, whose rights are "equally important" and who would also want to be heard in exigencies particular to their cases."He says democracy is basic structure and it's my fundamental right...but so is right to food. Large no. of people are languishing in jail whose families are outside without food. Is a common man's right lesser? Earlier it was about Delhi elections...now he says Punjab elections. Please do not earmark political leaders as a separate class. There are MDs in jail, they can say company is going into bankruptcy and seek interim bail," Mehta said.All material needs to be considered only when examining if a person is "not guilty" : ASG RajuDuring the hearing, the bench also asked whether "all" material needs to be considered by an Investigating Officer under Section 19 PMLA. The provision confers on the agency power of arrest where on the basis of material in its possession, it has "reason to believe" that a person is guilty of an offence under PMLA.The ASG clarified ED's stance that "all" material is required to be considered only when it is to be seen whether a person is "not guilty". If the assessment is regarding whether a person is "guilty", all material is not required to be considered and reflected in "reasons to believe", the ASG said.Expressing his doubts on this, Justice...

He Is An Elected CM, Not Habitual Offender; Elections Held Once In 5 Yrs: Supreme Court On ED's Objection To Interim Bail For Arvind Kejriwal

Debby Jain

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