New Delhi: The Supreme Court will deliver on Friday its judgment on the petitions filed by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal against his arrest by the Central Bureau Investigation in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan had reserved its judgment in the case on September 5.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener challenged the August 5 decision of the Delhi high court, which upheld his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and refused to entertain his plea for bail because Arvind Kejriwal did not go to the trial court first.
During the last hearing, the court had observed that that its judgment would be carefully framed to obviate demoralising subordinate judiciary while contributing to the evolution of criminal law.
“Whatever judgment we pass, we will make sure our institution is not demoralised in any manner…it’s the duty of the constitutional court to contribute to the development of law…not to apply law in a regressive manner,” the bench had said.
The comment came after CBI’s counsel warned the court against setting a precedent that might “demoralise” the subordinate courts; but the bench assured him that the Supreme Court’s ruling would carefully consider the integrity of all judicial institutions.
The day had witnessed intense exchanges between senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, and additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju, who defended CBI’s actions.
Arvind Kejriwal has been in custody since March 21 following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the same case, apart from a 21-day interim bail in May granted by the Supreme Court for Lok Sabha elections campaigning.
On July 12, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal in the ED case, acknowledging that he had spent over 90 days in incarceration. Still, he continued to remain in custody due to his arrest by CBI on June 26 in the excise policy matter.
