The Supreme Court on declined to consider the plea for an interim release of Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal without waiting for the Enforcement Directorate’s reply. It issued notice on a plea by Kejriwal challenging a Delhi High Court order, which upheld his arrest in a money-laundering case in relation to the alleged excise policy scam. Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21.
A bench comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice and scheduled the matter for hearing in the week commencing on April 29. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented the Enforcement Directorate and senior advocate A M Singhvi represented Kejriwal before the apex court.
Singhvi urged the court to grant a short date for hearing in the matter and pointed out that the first round of elections will begin on April 19 and also emphasized on the election campaign. The Supreme Court directions came on the day a court in Delhi extended the judicial custody of Kejriwal till April 23.
Special Judge for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), Kaveri Baweja, extended Kejriwal’s custody after he was produced before the court through video-conferencing on the expiry of his period of custody granted earlier.
The ED sought an extension of Kejriwal’s custody, saying the investigation was at a crucial stage. Kejriwal’s plea in Supreme Court stressed on the timing of his arrest, which happened just few days after the announcement of general elections and the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct.
The plea argued that his arrest provided the ruling party an unfair advantage in the upcoming elections, compromising the principle of free and fair elections. The plea said that petitioner’s arrest will provide the ruling party at the Centre an unjust upper hand in the upcoming elections.
Seeking apex court’s intervention in the matter, the plea argued that Kejriwal’s arrest also constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on “free and fair elections” and “federalism”. The plea emphasized that both of these form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution.
The plea argued that the conduct of the BJP after his arrest, demonstrates the way the machinery of law has been harnessed with the ‘oblique object’ of knocking out the political opposition.
