Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday evening was granted bail in the alleged excise policy case by Delhi’s Rose Avenue Court. But the next morning, on Friday, the Delhi High Court put an interim stay on the trial court order and paused Kejriwal’s bail.
So why does the High Court paused his bail and what does it mean?
On What Grounds Did The Trial Court Give Bail To Kejriwal?
The trial court had on Thursday granted bail to Kejriwal and ordered his release subject to bail bond of ₹1 lakh. The court said that ED has failed to give any direct evidence linking Kejriwal to the proceeds of the crime and has also failed to show that another accused, Vijay Nair, was acting on Kejriwal's behalf.
The trial court reportedly didn’t look at documents given by ED saying it is voluminous. The special judge also said that the ED was acting with bias against Kejriwal.
ED’s Argument In The High Court
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, representing the ED, told the High Court that he was not given the "full opportunity" to argue his case or to file written submissions in the trial court.
He alleged that the judge in the trail court was in a hurry to conduct the hearing and hurriedly disposed of the case. He said it was on record that the judge called the documents submitted "bulky" and refused to go through them.
What Did The Kejriwal Side Argued In The High Court?
Delhi CM's attorney Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that "not one paisa" was traced to Arvind Kejriwal and he has not been disobeying any court orders.
"For ED, Article 21 is non-existent. The liberty of a person is very, very low in the eyes of the ED, if it exists at all," he said.
He further said that the High Court and Supreme Court were dealing with the issue of legality of the arrest, not the bail and the Supreme Court has reserved its order on the legality of the arrest.
What Did The Delhi High Court Ruled?
The Delhi High Court directed an interim stay on the bail of Kejriwal till the pronouncement of its verdict on ED's petition. This means that the Delhi Chief Minister will remain in Tihar jail for now.
The order is likely to be pronounced on June 25. "I am reserving the order for two to three days. Till pronouncement of the order, the operation of the trial court order is stayed," High Court Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said.
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