The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict in the bail plea filed by Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi excise policy case [Arvind Kejriwal v Central Bureau of Investigation].
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan heard the counsel representing Kejriwal and CBI at length before reserving its verdict.
Both Kejriwal and the CBI were at loggerheads today over whether the bail matter should be first heard by trial court. Contrary to the usual course of first moving the trial court, Kejriwal had directly approached the Delhi High Court for bail. The High Court had rejected his plea prompting the appeal before the top court. During the hearing today before the top court, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for CBI, adverted to this and said that the matter should be first heard by the trial court.
“He approached the High Court without going to the sessions court. This is my preliminary objection. On merits, trial court could have seen it first. High Court was made to see merits and it can only be in exceptional cases. In ordinary cases, sessions court has to be approached first,” the ASG contended.
Bypassing the trial court can be allowed only in exceptional circumstances and the only ‘exceptional’ circumstance in this case is that Kejriwal is the Chief Minister, Raju said.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, argued that it would not be fair to send Kejriwal ‘back’ to the trial court when the questions arising in the present bail case have already been extensively argued before the trial court in a related matter.
“Is it a fair plea to say (go to trial court bail)? Had it not been argued on merits including on Section 41 and Section 41A fully? Before trial court also, it was argued during remand. You cannot consider sending me back there. Arguments were looked into during remand and affirmed against me. It is not fair to raise that argument now by then at this stage, there is huge delay involved since it has been heard on merits. Clear error on the face of it. I will not use the word perverse but serious error,” he stated.
Singhvi also highlighted the apex court’s judgment in the Manish Sisodia (co-accused) case in which top court while granting bail said that it would be unfair to send Sisodia back to the trial court for bail since it would be likeplaying a game of snakes and ladders.
“(On) this sending back, the Supreme Court has now used a very felicitous phrase in the Sisodia judgment – snakes and ladders,” Singhvi said. ASG Raju then interjected. “Sisodia went to trial court once. Here how many times has he (Kejriwal)? It is not fair to look at one para like that without facts. My lords cannot be the first instance. There is a hierarchy,” the ASG said.
“They (CBI) want the ladder to start all over again,” Singhvi maintained. He underlined that Kejriwal satisfies the triple test for bail and the trial in the case is unlikely to conclude anytime soon. “Multiple chargesheets filed. Prolonged incarceration cannot be there, is the triple test satisfied? Yes it is. In Manish Sisodia, the Court held that in this particular case of excise policy, trial is impossible to finish,” Singhvi contended.
The Court after a lengthy hearing which lasted through the day, reserved its judgment.
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Source: Bar and Bench