Supreme Court To Hear Manish Sisodia's Plea To Relax Bail Conditions In CBI & ED Cases Over Delhi Liquor Policy

The Supreme Court today (November 22) briefly heard two miscellaneous applications filed by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia in relation to the liquor policy case seeking relaxation of bail conditions. A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and KV Viswanathan stated that they would issue notice and clarify on the next date regarding the bail conditions. The Court will hear after 2 weeks. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented Sisodia.The Supreme Court on August 9 allowed the bail plea of Sisodia in both the CBI and ED cases, considering the delay in commencement of trial in the liquor policy case."We find that on account of long incarceration running around 17 months and trial having not been commenced, the appellant has been deprived of the right to speedy trial...," a bench of Justices Gavai and Viswanathan observed. The bail conditions in question us that Sisodia has to report to the investigating officer every Monday and Thursday between 10-11 AM.BackgroundReference was made to the recent precedents which held that investigating agencies cannot oppose bail citing the seriousness of the offence if they cannot ensure a speedy trial.The Court noted that there was "not even remotest possibility of trial being completed" in the near future considering that there are 495 witnesses and thousands of documents running into lakhs of pages. To keep Sisodia under custody for an unlimited period of time in the hope of a speedy completion of trial would result in a grave violation of the fundamental right to personal liberty under Article 21, it said.The Court opined that Sisodia has "deep roots in the society" and hence he is not a flight risk. Also, most of the evidence in the case is documentary in nature, which has already been collected; hence there is no possibility of tampering. As regards the apprehension of influencing or intimidating witnesses, the Court said that conditions can be imposed.After the judgment was pronounced, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju requested the Court to impose certain conditions on Sisodia, akin to those imposed in the Arvind Kejriwal case (that he should not visit the Chief Minister's office or the Delhi Secretariat). However, the bench rejected this request.As bail conditions, the Court asked Sisodia to furnish bail bonds for a sum of Rs.10 lakhs with two sureties of the like sum and to surrender his passport. He has to report to the investigating officer every Monday and Thursday between 10-11 AM.Trial Court and High Court did not consider the delay aspectWhile the Court held that there was no error on the part of the trial court and the High Court as regards the merits of the matter, it added that they erred in not considering the aspect of delay in trial. The Court said that the trial court and the Delhi High Court should not have ignored the observations in the October 2023 judgment of the Supreme Court that prolonged incarceration and the delay in the trial should be read into Sections 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.Delay can't be attributed to SisodiaThe bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan, which reserved the judgment on August 6, disagreed with the findings of the trial court and the High Court that the delay in trial was attributable to Sisodia. Justice Gavai, while pronouncing the judgment, stated that Sisodia cannot be faulted for filing applications for inspection of the documents - including the unrelied documents of the prosecution- as they are necessary for ensuring fair trial.CBI/ED's stand contradictoryThe Court also said that the stand taken by the agencies in the case was "contradictory", because on the one hand, they said that they were ready to expedite the trial, but on the other hand, on June 4, they sought one month's time to file supplementary chargesheet. If the investigation was not complete as of July, how could the trial conclude before that, asked the Court. In this regard, the Court referred to the statement of the agencies recorded in the October 2023 judgment that the trial would be complete within 6-8 months.Relegating Sisodia to trial court again would amount to making him play game of "snake and ladder"Rejecting the submission of ED and CBI that Sisodia should approach the trial court for bail, the Court observed that relegating him to the trial court again (and then to the High Court) for seeking bail would amount to making him play a game of "snake and ladder". A citizen cannot be made to run from pillar to post for personal liberty, the bench observed. In this context, the Court added that the liberty granted to Sisodia by the June 4 order of the Supreme Court to revive his bail prayers was to be construed as a liberty to file a petition in the Supreme Court itself and rejected the preliminary objections of the ED/CBI.Sisodia had filed two separate petitions seeking bail - one, in the case registered by the Central Bureau of...

Supreme Court To Hear Manish Sisodia's Plea To Relax Bail Conditions In CBI & ED Cases Over Delhi Liquor Policy

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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