- The Supreme Court time and again has emphasized in no uncertain terms the law of the land upholding the granting of bail unless continued presence in jail is warranted against the accused. So much so that the Apex Court has unequivocally urged the High Courts and the lower courts to adhere to this principle of granting bail rather than make the undertrials languish in jails for want of speedy justice/hearing/relief. It’s been done to death of how the Indian undertrials numbering in millions are languishing in various jails awaiting to be heard by the justices. Little wonder, the justice delivery system in the country is not held in great esteem since the inordinate delays always are the cause of heartburn among the common citizens knocking on the doors of courts.
PC: Times of India
- Efforts to address this glaring anomaly from the concerned quarters have yielded very little succor for those undertrials as the meandering justice delivery system perpetually fails to pick up pace. The country has also witnessed some of the most high-profile cases and personalities fighting to obtain relief from the courts, including a few key political leaders. As you are aware, the SC finally granted Kejriwal bail in the CBI case – he had gotten bail in the ED case earlier – and settled some key questions via a high-profile legal tussle. Nonetheless, it raises a few other questions. The two-judge bench unanimously held that with the completion of the trial unlikely in the distant future, Delhi CM’s prolonged incarceration violates his right to liberty.
- Thus, the SC’s decision was foretold by its granting bail to several excise policy accused, including AAP’s Manish Sisodia and BRS’s K Kavitha, in recent months. SC has been reiterating the judicial principle that bail is the norm and jail is the exception. Recently, Justice Bhuyan also stressed that keeping Kejriwal in jail was untenable since had been granted bail in the more stringent PMLA case against him. Just as significant is Justice Bhuyan’s view that Delhi CM’s arrest by CBI in June raised more questions than it answered. With the same conditions imposed on him in the ED case applying now, Kejriwal cannot visit his office or sign official files. On this too, Justice Bhuyan expressed reservations. Kejriwal has offered to resign after coming out of jail since.
PC: India Today
- In hindsight, wouldn’t it have been enough to set conditions that kept him away from anything related to excise policy since Kejriwal is responsible for the governance of the capital? Mind you, SC itself has stressed the importance of bail conditions being reasonable in several cases. The administration of the capital city of Delhi suffered for too long when the CM was incarcerated. For a party that won 62 of 70 seats in the last assembly elections and controls Delhi’s municipal corporation, there can be no justification for civic woes remaining unaddressed in the capital though. The need of the hour is to ensure the vacant judicial positions are filled up in a time-bound manner that would go a long way in clearing the pending cases across various courts.
