New Delhi: A special court on Friday issued the release order of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia following grant of bail to him by the Supreme Court earlier in the day in excise policy “scam” cases.
Special Judge accepted bail bonds and surety bonds submitted by Sisodia’s advocates
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja accepted the bail bonds and surety bonds submitted by the advocates representing Sisodia following the Supreme Court order.
The Supreme Court earlier in the day granted Sisodia bail in the corruption and money laundering cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy.
CBI arrested Sisodia first in corruption case in February last year
The CBI arrested Sisodia in the excise policy-linked corruption case in February last year and later he was also arrested by the ED in the money laundering case from Tihar Jail.
The apex court said that on account of a long period of incarceration running for around 17 months and the trial even not having been commenced, Sisodia has been deprived of his right to speedy trial. The top court bench further said that the right to speedy trial and the right to liberty are sacrosanct rights and on denial of these rights, the trial court as well as the High Court ought to have given due weightage to this factor.
Referring to a top court order, the bench said that over a period of time, the trial courts and the High Courts have forgotten a very well-settled principle of law that bail is not to be withheld as a punishment.
It appears that trial courts and high courts attempt to play safe in matters of grant of bail: Apex Court
“From our experience, we can say that it appears that the trial courts and the High Courts attempt to play safe in matters of grant of bail. The principle that bail is a rule and refusal is an exception is, at times, followed in breach. On account of non-grant of bail even in straight forward open and shut cases, this Court is flooded with huge number of bail petitions thereby adding to the huge pendency. It is high time that the trial courts and the High Courts should recognize the principle that “bail is rule and jail is exception,” the Supreme Court said.
There is not even remotest possibility of trial being concluded in near future, apex court noted
The top court said that 493 witnesses have been named in these cases and it involves thousands of pages of documents and over a lakh pages of digitized documents and it is thus clear that there is not even the remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future.
“In our view, keeping the appellant (Sisodia) behind the bars for an unlimited period of time in the hope of speedy completion of trial would deprive his fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. As observed time and again, the prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial,” the top court bench said while granting bail to Sisodia in both cases.