Relief For Arvind Kejriwal As Supreme Court Grants Him Interim Bail Till 1 June

The Supreme Court on Friday (10 May) granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal till 1 June.

Kejriwal has been lodged in Tihar jail in a money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi liquor policy case.

A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said orally, "We are passing an order giving him interim relief till June 1, 2024...", Livelaw reported.

The bench further added that the order will be uploaded by evening.

The bench made it clear that Kejriwal will have to surrender on expiry of the interim bail term.

As soon as the bench took up the matter, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, said, “Now we have been approached by Amritpal Singh. That’s a concern.”

Singh, chief of the Waris Punjab De outfit, is currently lodged at Dibrugarh jail in Assam under the National Security Act.

"That (Amrit Pal Sigh case) is something different," Justice Khanna said.

SG Mehta said that there are no precedents for releasing a person for campaigning when he himself is not a candidate.

However, Justice Khanna said, “Let’s not put into a simple straightjacket like that.”

He added that the case was registered in August 2022 and Kejriwal was arrested in March 2024 after about one and half years. “Twenty-one days…should not make any difference,” he said.

Earlier, The ED had strongly opposed the Supreme Court's suggestion to grant interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The apex court was hearing Kejriwal's petition against his arrest by ED in the liquor policy case.

During the hearing of the appeal on 7 May, the top court had hinted at granting interim bail to Kejriwal in order to enable him to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

However, it had also said that if interim bail is granted, Kejriwal would not be allowed to discharge any official duties as Chief Minister.

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