SC issues notice to ED on Kejriwal’s plea
The Delhi CM challenged his arrest by the agency and his subsequent remand
The Supreme Court issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea by Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal challenging his arrest by the agency and his subsequent remand in the excise policy case.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta refused to give an early hearing of the case as sought by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Kejriwal.
During the hearing, Singhvi urged the bench to give a short date for the hearing, preferably the coming Friday.
The bench said: “We will give you a short date, but it is not possible to meet the date suggested by you.” Singhvi said the arrest of Kejriwal was made to disable him from campaigning. The apex court posted the case for further hearing in the week commencing from April 29.
The bench, in its order, stated: “Issue notice. returnable on April 24. Notice is accepted by the respondent (ED), who is
presented in court on caveat. Reply to be filed on or before April 24 and rejoinder (by Kejriwal) on or before April 27. Postin week commencing April 29.”
The AAP leader had approached the Supreme Court
challenging a Delhi High Court judgment that dismissed his plea against arrest by the ED and his subsequent remand in the excise policy case.
While filing an appeal in the apex court, he contended that
his arrest after the announcement of the general elections was ‘motivated by extraneous considerations’.
The appeal stated that the sitting chief minister had been arrested in a ‘motivated manner’
in the middle of the election cycle, especially after the declaration of the schedule of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
On April 9, the High Court dismissed his plea for release from jail and rejected his argu
ment of political vendetta amid the looming Lok Sabha elections. The High Court had said that Kejriwal’s absence from nine ED summons over six months undermined any claims of special privilege as chief minister, suggesting his arrest was an inevitable consequence of his non-cooperation. Seeking urgent intervention from the court, the chief minister’s appeal stated, it is an issue of illegal curtailment of Kejriwal’s liberty.
Kejriwal’s arrest also constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on free and fair elections and federalism, both of which form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution, the appeal stated.
The petition, while seeking the release of the Delhi chief minister from jail, said the ED has allowed its process to be used and misused by vested interests as an instrument of oppression to not only invade the liberty of the political opponents during the 2024 general election of such vested interests but also to tarnish their reputation and self-esteem.
Such lawlessness cannot be allowed to be perpetrated under any circumstances, it said while urging the apex court to declare Kejriwal’s arrest illegal.
“The petitioner’s arrest, therefore, bears serious, irreversible ramifications for the future of electoral democracy in India, for if the petitioner is not released forthwith to participate in the upcoming elections, it will establish a precedence in law for ruling parties to arrest heads of political opposition on flimsy and vexatious charges before elections,” the petition stated.