Arvind Kejriwal Gets ‘Supreme’ Relief, Granted Bail

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Friday in the CBI case. However, despite granting bail unanimously, the two Supreme Court judges differed on the legality of the arrest of Kejriwal by the CBI.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader can now leave jail after nearly six months without a trial - since he already has bail in the case filed by the Enforcement Directorate. He cannot, however, go to his office or the Delhi Secretariat, or sign files without Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena's consent.

In a brief session Friday morning Justice Surya Kant said prolonged imprisonment "amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty" but held that the arrest of Kejriwal was legal and did not suffer from any procedural irregularity. However, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan had a differing view, saying the arrest by the CBI was "unjustified".

On the matter of bail, however, the judges were united, noting that "completion of the trial (is) unlikely in (the) immediate future". The court then ruled as it had for others in this case, including ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Telangana politician K Kavitha. Both were released on similar grounds.

And, as it had for Sisodia, the court said it was a "travesty of justice" to keep Kejriwal in jail without notice of a trial, particularly since he had already been granted bail in the case filed by the ED, in which he faced charges under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

"I fail to understand the great urgency on the part of CBI to arrest the appellant when he was on the cusp of release in the ED case. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appearing for the CBI vehemently argued that the appellant has to first approach trial court... this can't be accepted," Justice Bhuyan said.

In strong comments, he also underlined the 'bail is rule, jail exception' legal principle that featured in Sisodia and Kavitha's release. "Further detention by CBI under same predicate offense is untenable. There is a presumption of innocence. Bail is the rule and jail an exception."

The Supreme Court has already underlined the primacy of this principle, which was established in 1977 by Justice Krishna Iyer, holding it valid in both money laundering and anti-terror cases.

News of Mr Kejriwal's release was greeted with great joy by senior AAP leaders and party workers, with Mr Sisodia leading the train of congratulatory messages. "Today, once again, truth has won in the fight against lies and conspiracies," he said, while his successor as Delhi's Education Minister, Atishi said, "Truth can be troubled, but not defeated".

AAP MP Raghav Chadha welcomed the decision and said the party had missed Mr Kejriwal's leadership. "Welcome back, Arvind Kejriwal, we missed you!" he said on X.

Mr Kejriwal's wife, Sunita Kejriwal, who delivered fiery political speeches while her husband was in jail, said the BJP's "plans" had been defeated. They want to jail opposition leaders and stay in power..."

Kejriwal's release will come as a shot in the arm for the AAP ahead of the Haryana Assembly election, where the party is gearing up to challenge the incumbent BJP and its INDIA bloc partner Congress.