Manish Sisodia in Liquor Policy Case: The Supreme Court granted bail to former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. He has come out of jail after 17 months. Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Vishwanath have given relief in both CBI and ED cases related to the Delhi liquor policy scam.
On what basis did the Supreme Court grant bail, why is this decision so important, what will happen next in the liquor policy case –
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On what basis has the Supreme Court granted bail to Manish Sisodia?
The court admitted that ED and CBI have not yet been able to file a charge sheet in this case. Due to this, the hearing has not even started. The Supreme Court said that delay in trial and long imprisonment in PMLA is the legal basis for granting bail in money laundering cases.
The court commented that keeping an accused in jail for a long time in the hope of completion of the trial is a violation of his fundamental rights. There are names of 493 witnesses in the present case. There are thousands of pages of documents and more than one lakh pages of digital documents. It is clear from this that there is no possibility of this case ending in the near future.
The Supreme Court said that in our opinion, keeping the appellant behind bars for unlimited time in the hope of completing the trial quickly is a deprivation of the fundamental right to freedom under Article 21 of the Constitution. The court said that Sisodia has ‘deep roots in the society’. Due to this, there is no danger of him fleeing.
Why did the lower court and the High Court refuse to grant bail earlier?
On March 31, the trial court rejected Sisodia’s bail and said that prima facie Manish Sisodia is the conspirator. Sisodia also cited his wife’s ill health. On which the court said that this fact is wrong, he (Sisodia) has a son who can take care of his wife.
After this, on 30 May 2023, the Delhi High Court rejected the bail plea and said that there are serious allegations of misconduct against you. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma had said that Sisodia is an influential person. Most of the witnesses in this case are government employees. In such a situation, Sisodia can influence the witnesses. Looking at the circumstances, the court believes that Sisodia is not entitled to bail.
Today, on 9th August, a bench of Supreme Court comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan commented that trial courts and high courts seem to try to play safe in matters of granting bail. It is time for the courts to understand that bail is the rule and jail is the exception.
What were the arguments of ED and CBI against Manish Sisodia’s bail?
Government lawyer and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who appeared in the Supreme Court on behalf of ED and CBI, gave two important arguments in the Supreme Court against Manish Sisodia’s bail…
1. SV Raju said- ‘The trial would have started by now, but it is not the investigation agency but the accused and his lawyers who have caused the delay. One after another applications were filed by the accused in the lower courts, which wasted the time of the investigation agency. They asked for documents without any reason. They do not want all aspects of this case to be investigated properly, so the best option for them is to delay it.
2. Solicitor General Raju gave another argument against bail that if Sisodia is released, he can tamper with the evidence. He can influence the witnesses.
During the hearing itself, Justice Vishwanathan questioned the argument of the public prosecutor and said that you had filed the final chargesheet against Manish Sisodia on June 28… that day you said that you will soon file a second supplementary chargesheet… meaning you believe that you will not prosecute him until all the chargesheets are filed. It will take a long time to file the chargesheet, so in such a situation, should Sisodia not be granted bail till then?
What did the Supreme Court say while granting bail, which can have an impact on other cases?
Supreme Court lawyer Virag Gupta says that Manish Sisodia has got bail after several rounds of litigation in the High Court and Supreme Court in his bail case. After the hearing, the Supreme Court has granted bail to Manish Sisodia keeping in mind three things…
1. Merit of the case to the trial court
2. Delay in trial
3. Right to speedy justice.
The Supreme Court has not commented on the merits of the main case. The court has granted this bail recognizing the right to life and personal liberty as per Articles 20, 21 and 22 of the Constitution and the right to speedy justice as per Article 21.
The principle of bail is the rule and jail is the exception is not followed by the trial court and High Court judges, due to which there is a pile of cases in the courts.
All these aspects are mentioned in the Supreme Court’s decision. The decisions of the Supreme Court are considered the law of the country under Article 141 of the Constitution and are binding on all courts. Therefore, after this decision, the way can be opened for bail for lakhs of other prisoners.
With Manish’s bail, has the way for Kejriwal’s bail also been cleared?
Virag Gupta says that Manish Sisodia was considered one of the main accused in the Delhi Liquor case. In his cases, the Solicitor General had said that the investigation of the cases would be completed by 28 June 2024. CBI and ED have filed a total charge sheet of 69 thousand pages against Sisodia, which has 493 witnesses.
ASG Raju, on behalf of the investigating agencies, argued that a total of 27 applications have been filed by Sisodia. He has also applied several times to ask for documents. The trial of the case is getting delayed because of Sisodia, so he should not be granted bail on this basis.
According to the Supreme Court, Sisodia has been in jail for almost 17 months and the trial, which is going on at a snail’s pace, is unlikely to end soon, hence he should be granted bail.
After the filing of the main and supplementary chargesheets by the CBI and the ED, Kejriwal can also seek bail based on this decision. His chances of getting bail are now high. However, after hearing his arguments on the bail plea, the court will decide whether to grant him bail or not.
As long as Kejriwal is in jail, can Manish Sisodia take over his charge?
Both Manish Sisodia and Kejriwal have not been convicted, so there is no disqualification for them to be MLAs. According to Virag, Sisodia can come out of jail and become a minister or deputy chief minister. The Supreme Court has also not put any restriction on his going to the secretariat in the bail conditions.
Before the ED and CBI cases, Sisodia was performing the role of Chief Minister as Deputy Chief Minister, so the old system can be restored again. Sisodia can perform the duties of CM while being Deputy CM.
What has happened so far in the Delhi liquor policy case?
The then Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia announced the new liquor policy on 22 March 2021. He argued that this would end the mafia rule in liquor and increase revenue.
On 17 November 2021, the new liquor policy (2021-22) was implemented in Delhi. Competition increased due to the business going into private hands. Due to huge discounts, liquor was sold in large quantities. Government treasury, but the new policy was strongly opposed.
On 8 July 2022, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar alleged scam in the new liquor policy. A report was prepared and submitted to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. According to this, Sisodia benefited the liquor businessmen by causing loss to the government treasury. The Lieutenant Governor gave a statement that the liquor policy was changed without his consent.
The Lieutenant Governor demanded a CBI inquiry on the Chief Secretary’s report. CBI registered a case on 17 August 2022. Manish Sisodia, three retired officers, 9 businessmen and two companies were made accused.
On August 19, raids were conducted at 31 locations in seven states, including Sisodia’s house and office. On August 22, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case of money laundering after taking information about the case from the CBI.
When the controversy escalated, the Delhi government canceled the new liquor policy on 28 July 2022. On July 31, the government said in a cabinet note that despite high sales of liquor, the government’s earnings decreased because retail and wholesale traders were withdrawing from the liquor business.
Manish Sisodia was the Excise Minister. Hence he was made the main accused. Sisodia was arrested on 26 February. On 12 September Aam Aadmi Party’s communication head Vijay Nair was arrested by the CBI.
Manish Sisodia was arrested on 26 February 2023. He was considered the main accused as he was the Excise Minister, later the ED also registered a case against Sisodia and arrested him. On October 4, AAP leader Sanjay Singh was arrested by the ED.
On November 2, the ED issued the first summons to Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case. Till March 17, 2024, Kejriwal was summoned nine times.
On July 29, the Supreme Court sought a response from the ED and the CBI on Sisodia’s petition. Today, on August 09, the Supreme Court granted bail to Manish Sisodia. He will be released from jail only after he submits a bond of Rs 10 lakh each today.
What can happen next in the Delhi liquor policy case?
The Supreme Court has granted bail to Manish Sisodia. Now the case can proceed like this…
1. In this case, the investigating agencies will file final and supplementary chargesheets. Further hearing will take place on the basis of this.
2. CBI and ED should start the trial by filing the final chargesheet and appeal to the court again to demand the custody of Manish Sisodia. However, for this the investigating agencies will have to gather strong evidence against him.
3. On the basis of Manish Sisodia’s bail, other accused including Arvind Kejriwal can file their bail petition in the court.
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