Trial Court Hasn't Applied Its Mind: Delhi HC Stays Bail To Arvind Kejriwal In Liquor Policy Case

In a setback to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the trial court order granting bail in the excise policy case.

The trial court did not apply its mind to the material submitted by the ED, Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said, as per a report in the Bar and Bench website. The High Court issued an order in response to an ED plea seeking a stay on the trial court's June 20 decision to grant bail to the AAP national convenor..

The Delhi High Court observed that the trial did not give adequate opportunity to the central agency to argue its case. "Observation by trial court that voluminous material cannot be considered is totally unjustified and it shows that the trial court has not applied its mind to the material. The vacation court ought to give adequate opportunity to ED to argue bail application," the website quoted the High Court judge as saying.

The High Court noted that the trial court had not sufficiently addressed the argument regarding the twin conditions for bail under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

"There was a strong argument that the twin conditions of Section 45 PMLA were not considered by the vacation judge. This court believes that Section 45 PMLA was not properly discussed by the trial court," the High Court stated.

Kejriwal, arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), could have been out of the Tihar jail if the High Court had not granted interim relief to the anti-money laundering agency.

The trial court granted Kejriwal bail on June 20, ordering his release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and imposing conditions, including that he must not hamper the investigation or influence witnesses.

The ED argued that the trial court's order was "perverse," "one-sided," and "wrong," and that its findings were based on irrelevant facts, according to a report in PTI.

On June 21, the High Court suspended the bail order until a decision on the stay was pronounced and requested written submissions from the parties by June 24.

Kejriwal has also approached the Supreme Court against the interim stay on his bail.

On Monday, the Supreme Court scheduled a hearing for his plea on June 26, stating it would wait for the high court's pronouncement on the matter.

The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption in its formulation and execution.