New Delhi: Trouble mounted for Delhi deputy chief Minister Manish Sisodia as the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain his application challenging his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in ecise policy case.
Refusing to entertain Sisodia’s plea, a bench of Chief Justice of India DY CHandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha asked him to pursue alternate remedies before the Delhi High Court instead of invoking the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution.
“You are challenging an FIR, challenging remand, seeking bail, all under Article 32. You have remedies before the High Court under Section 482 CrPC,” CJI Chandrachud told senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi who was representing Sisodia in the case, reported LiveLaw.
In his argument, Singhvi referred to the cases of Arnab Goswami and Vinod Dua to say that Article 32 can be invoked for bail in exceptional circumstances.
However, the CJI countered the argument to say that the Arnab Goswami case came before the Supreme Court after going through the High Court. The Vinod Dua case, on the other hand, pertained to a case relating to FIRs against a journalist for making critical reports.
Singhvi then relied upon the Jagisha Arora case where the apex court had allowed bail to journalist Prashant Kanojia in a writ petition filed against a remand order. He also argued that in the case of Sisodia, remand was not warranted since the punishment for the offence is less than 7 years, there is no flight risk and he has complied with all summons.
However, the CJI advised Singhvi to pursue alternate remedies available to the petitioner before the High Court and refused to intervene in the case at this point.
Sisodia was arrested by the CBI after eight hours of questioning on Sunday and remanded to CBI custody for five days by a Delhi court on Monday. Sisodia is named in an FIR for alleged irregularities in framing and implementation of the now now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22. The CBI filed its chargesheet in the matter on November 25, 2022.
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