The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday deferred Arvind Kejriwal's interim bail hearing till Thursday or next week in the alleged money laundering case linked to a liquor policy scam. There was a possibility that the Apex Court might grant Delhi CM Kejriwal interim bail in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta took up as the first matter the plea of the AAP leader. Notably, the Supreme Court witnessed some intense arguments between Arvind Kejriwal's legal team headed by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, SG Tushar Mehta, and ASG Raju Ramachandran representing ED. Notably, the SC observed the extraordinary circumstances and stated that Arvind Kejriwal is not a habitual offender and therefore, they headed to an interim bail hearing. Now, the question arises if the Supreme Court judges observed this, then why Arvind Kejriwal was not granted interim bail? Below is what happened in the court-
In course of the proceedings, Justice Khanna while replying to a question set forth by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta if the apex court is setting a different example just because other people are less important than the chief minister, said, “He is elected CM of Delhi. There are elections…These are extraordinary circumstances. He’s not a habitual offender."
SG Mehta strictly opposing any interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal said, “There can’t be any deviation only because he is a CM. Are we carving out exception for politicians? Would campaigning for elections be more important?”
In response, Justice Khanna said, "That’s separate. Elections are held once in five years. We don’t appreciate this. We certainly do not want that politicians who are involved in crimes be treated differently...We are not going by whether it is a politician or not…every individual would have some special or exceptional circumstances. We are considering whether exception is required in view of elections. We are not saying there has to be a different law for politicians."
SG Mehta hinted that had the Delhi chief minister cooperated his arrest may have been avoided. "If he had cooperated, maybe he would not have been arrested. Now he says I want to campaign. All common men are at par,” SG Mehta told the court.
ASG Raju highlighted Vijay Nair's involvement. ".. despite having nothing to do with excise dept or delhi govt ... Vijay Nair was allowed to occupy Cabinet Minister Kailash Gehlot's bungalow adjacent to CM's house.."
Ultimately, due to lack of time, Justice Khanna said, "Tentatively we will see if that matter finishes, we will give you a date for day after tomorrow. If it's not possible, we will keep it sometime in next week. Next week is going to be very difficult."
'If granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal then..'
The Supreme Court during the hearing said, "Suppose we grant interim bail on account of elections. Then if you say you will attend to office then it may have cascading effect.. Dr Singhvi if we give any interim bail we do not want you to be performing official duties as somewhere it will lead to conflict. We do not want interference at all in the working of the government". However, in the same breath, the Court also remarked, "Let us see whether at all it (interim bail) should be given or not."