New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case. Kejriwal’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money-laundering case has, however, been referred to a larger bench.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said that certain legal questions raised in the petition have been referred to a larger bench for consideration. “Regarding the policy of arrest and its basis, we have referred. We have formulated three questions.”
THE QUESTIONS
- Whether need and necessity is about formal parameters of arrest?
- Can it be read into Section 19 PMLA and then grounds the court will look into?
It also ruled that mere interrogation does not allow arrest. “We have held reasons to believe are concerned it meets with Section 19 PMLA, but we have gone into need and necessity of arrest. We felt whether the need and necessity of arrest can be read into Section 19 could be based on the doctrine of proportionality is referred to a larger bench …We have held mere interrogation does not allow arrest”.
The bench further noted that Kejriwal has been incarcerated for over 90 days and the court cannot direct an elected representative to step down. “As an elected leader, it is up to him to decide whether he wants to continue in his role or not.”
“We have not examined the question of bail, but we have examined the parameters of Section 19 of the PMLA. We have explained the difference between Section 19 and Section 45. Section 19 involves subjective opinions of officers and is subject to judicial review, whereas Section 45 is exercised by the court itself,” it added.
Kejriwal, also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president, was arrested on March 21 by the ED in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. He has challenged the April 9 order of the Delhi High Court that had upheld his arrest in the case.
However, the Delhi CM will continue to remain in jail despite getting bail as he is currently being questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a separate case and the hearing is on July 18.
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