SC grants bail to Manish Sisodia, tells CBI and ED that bail cannot be withheld as a punishment

Manish Sisodia granted bail by Supreme Court in ED and CBI cases related to Excise Policy, with conditions.

The Supreme Court on Friday stressed to the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Directorate of Enforcement that “every day counts in matters of personal liberty” while granting bail to former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who spent over 17 months behind bars without trial for money laundering charges linked to the Excise Policy.

Supreme Court’s judgment on Manish Sisodia’s bail: Live updates

A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan said the right to a speedy trial and personal liberty were sacrosanct. Bail cannot be withheld as a punishment. If the state, prosecution agencies or even courts do not have the wherewithal to protect an accused’s right to a speedy trial, they should not withhold bail on the ground that the alleged crime was serious.

The apex court allowed bail to Mr. Sisodia in both Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases and ordered him to be released on payment of ₹ 10 lakh in bail bonds. The Aam Aadmi Party leader has to surrender his passport and report to the police station every Monday.

Justice Gavai expressly declined an oral plea made by the ED/CBI to bar Mr. Sisodia from the Delhi Secretariat. The court said Mr. Sisodia had “deep roots in the society” and there was no possibility of him trying to flee or tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.

“Keeping Mr. Sisodia incarcerated for an unlimited time in the hope of a speedy trial is a violation of his fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution,” Justice Gavai, who authored the verdict, observed.

The court said there was not even the “remotest possibility” of the trial concluding in the near future. The prosecution has 493 witnesses lined up. There were over a lakh pages of documents and over a 1000 documents involved in the case.