Arvind Kejriwal bail highlights | Delhi HC stays trial court order granting bail to CM in excise policy case

Delhi High Court stays the trial Court order granting regular bail to Arvind Kejriwal. 

“This Court has decided that the vacation judge did not appropriately appreciate the material on record and the averments of ED. Accordingly, the application is allowed and the operation of the impugned order is stayed”, the order says. 

Also Read: Delhi High Court stays Arvind Kejriwal’s bail in Excise policy case

Delhi High Court stays trial court order granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal in Excise policy case

No bail for Arvind Kejriwal: Delhi High Court Vacation Bench stays bail for Arvind Kejriwal in Excise Policy case, citing lack of opportunity for ED.

The High Court refers to observations made by the trial court judge that it was not possible to go through thousands of pages of documents filed by the respective parties.

“The Court of the opinion that such observation was totally unjustified and also reflected that the trial court has not applied it mind to the material placed before the court at the time of dealing with the bail application,” the High Court says. 

Delhi HC says that the trial Court did not discuss the vicarious liability of Mr. Kejriwal under Section 70 of the PMLA. 

“There was a strong argument that the twin condition of Section 45 PMLA was not deliberated by the vacation judge. This court is of the opinion that Section 45 PMLA has not been properly discussed by the trial court,” Justice Jain says. 

[The ED had contended that since Mr. Kejriwal is the national convenor of AAP, he could be made vicariously liable for the affairs of the political party under Section 70(1) of the PMLA. Section 70 of the PMLA which is often invoked to investigate companies stipulates that when an offence of money laundering is committed by a company, each individual who at the time of the crime was in charge or responsible, being a part of the entity conducting business, “shall be deemed guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.” ]

Also Read: The legal issues surrounding Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest | Explained

“There was a strong argument that the twin conditions of Section 45 PMLA was not deliberated by the vacation judge. This court is of the opinion that Section 45 PMLA has not been properly discussed by the trial court”, Justice Kumar says while reading out the order. 

[Section 45 of the PMLA imposes twin conditions for bail for money laundering offences - (i) that there are “reasonable grounds for believing that [the accused] is not guilty of such offence”; and (ii) that “he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail”.] 

Justice Kumar addresses the argument raised by ASG SV Raju that the trial Court judge had not given the ED adequate opportunity to argue its stay application. 

“The averments and allegations made in the main petition require due consideration of the court”, he adds. 

Justice Sudhir Kumar has presided to deliver the verdict. 

Delhi HC to shortly pronounce verdict on the Enforcement Directorate’s plea seeking a stay on the trial Court’s order granting regular bail to Arvind Kejriwal. 

Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain is expected to deliver the verdict at 2:30 pm.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has used Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for liberty to pitch hard for stringent checks and balances on the grant of interim medical bail to the accused facing money laundering charges, saying only a case of intolerable grief and suffering should justify temporary release.

Mr. Kejriwal surrendered before Tihar Jail authorities on June 2, 22 days after the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented order, granted him interim bail to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections till June 1.

He was remanded to custody till June 5, when a Delhi court is scheduled to pronounce its judgment on his plea for interim bail on medical grounds. The Supreme Court Registry had recently declined to even list for judicial hearing Mr. Kejriwal’s application for a seven-day extension of his interim bail to take a PET-CT scan. 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest has resulted in several rounds of litigation – what legal contentions have been raised during the proceedings and what do judicial precedents say?

Read The Hindu’s detailed explainer here. 

The legal issues surrounding Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest | Explained

Arvind Kejriwal arrest: The Hindu explores the legal issues surrounding the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal by the ED, including what legal contentions have been raised during the proceedings and what do judicial precedents say?

After a day-long hearing on the Enforcement Directorate’s plea challenging the bail granted to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case, the Delhi High Court on June 21 put on hold the trial court’s order.

“Till the pronouncement of this order, the operation of the impugned order (of the trial court) shall remain stayed,” a Vacation Bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said, adding that he was reserving the order for two-three days as he wanted to go through the entire records.

Read more here. 

Arvind Kejriwal to remain in jail as Delhi HC stays bail order till pronouncement of its verdict on ED’s plea

Delhi High Court pauses Arvind Kejriwal's bail, reserves judgement on ED plea in money laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) was acting with bias against Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founder Arvind Kejriwal, who was booked in the excise policy case, the Delhi court observed on June 20 while granting him bail. 

Special Judge Niyay Bindu of the Rouse Avenue Court also said that the Central agency remained silent on the fact that Mr. Kejriwal was not named by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its first information report (FIR) or in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by the ED.

Read more here. 

Trial court order had come down on ED ‘bias’ in Kejriwal case

Delhi court criticizes biased actions of ED against Arvind Kejriwal in excise policy case, bail granted then put on hold.

Appearing for the Delhi CM, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi argued that it was “unprecedented” for any Court to stay a bail order on the first day of the hearing itself. “We should not have suffered a stay at all. This is a question of personal liberty”, Mr. Singhvi asserted. 

However, a vacation Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti decided to await the pronouncement of the High Court’s stay order in the meantime. “How do we know what is going on in the High Court’s mind?”, Justice Misra asked. 

Read The Hindu’s live coverage of the proceedings here. 

Arvind Kejriwal bail plea Highlights: No immediate relief for Kejriwal, Supreme Court to hear Delhi CM’s plea against HC’s stay on bail on June 26

Arvind Kejriwal bail plea Highlights: Follow the highlights of Arvind Kejriwal’s bail plea hearing in the Supreme Court on June 24, 2024.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders have said that the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea in the Delhi High Court against the trial court’s bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had betrayed the “panicked state” of the probe agency and the BJP, which are “trying to destroy Mr. Kejriwal’s politics of truth”. 

“After the order, the ED was in a dilemma. Then, it was given orders by its higher-ups to go to the High Court. Have you ever heard of a situation where the order copy has not been released, nobody knows what is in the order, yet the EC goes and asks the High Court to put a stay on it?” Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said. 

Bail to Arvind Kejriwal has betrayed panic of ED, BJP, says AAP

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders said on Friday that the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea in the High Court against the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had betrayed the “panicked state” of the BJP, which is trying to destroy Mr. Kejriwal’s politics of truth.

The Supreme Court on Monday did not intervene immediately to lift a Delhi High Court order pausing the release of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on bail. “If we pass an order, it would be like prejudging the issue,” Justice Manoj Misra, heading a Vacation Bench, observed on Monday.

Read more here.