In a significant development, the Supreme Court granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. While the unanimous decision to grant bail brought relief, the court displayed a rare split in opinion regarding the legality of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) initial arrest of Kejriwal.
Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), had been detained six months prior and is set to be released following this decision. His release follows the interim bail already granted in a parallel Enforcement Directorate (ED) money laundering case. Alongside Kejriwal, other prominent figures such as AAP’s Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Vijay Nair, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s K Kavitha have been granted bail.
Justice Surya Kant, affirming the legality of the arrest, emphasized that prolonged incarceration “amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty,” endorsing the doctrine that “bail is rule and jail is an exception.” He articulated, “The appellant’s arrest does not suffer from illegality. The issue is of liberty… integral to a sensitized judicial process.”
In contrast, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan criticized the CBI’s actions, particularly the timing of Kejriwal’s arrest as “unjustified,” suggesting it was a strategic move to prevent his release after the bail in the ED case. Justice Bhuyan remarked, “Such action by CBI raises serious questions about the timing of the arrest and such an arrest by CBI was only to frustrate the bail granted in the ED case.”
Furthering his disapproval, Justice Bhuyan lamented over the CBI’s operational independence, echoing a sentiment from a decade prior when the Supreme Court famously described the CBI as a “caged parrot” speaking in its master’s voice during the coalgate scandal. “CBI must be seen above board and every effort must be made so that the arrest is not in a high-handed manner. Perception matters and the CBI must dispel the notion of being a caged parrot,” he stated, urging the agency to operate beyond reproach and suspicion.
