New Delhi: A day after Union Home minister Amit Shah said that interim bail granted to Arvind Kejriwal by Supreme Court was not a “routine judgment” as many believed he had been given special treatment, the top court refused to entertain Enforcement Directorate’s plea seeking action against the Delhi chief minister over his campaign speeches.
“We welcome criticism of the verdict. We will not go into that. We have given reasons for granting interim bail… Our order is clear when he (Kejriwal) has to surrender. We did not make an exception for anybody,” Justice Sanjeev Khanna said on Thursday.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing ED, claimed that Kejriwal’s assertion that he “would not have to go back to jail” if Opposition INDIA bloc won the election was a “slap on the face of the system.”
“Arvind Kejriwal has said that if people vote for the AAP, then he doesn’t have to go to jail on June 2. How can Arvind Kejriwal say this?” Mehta told the top court.
To which, Supreme Court said Kejriwal’s comment constituted his personal opinion. “It Is his assumption… we cannot say anything. Our order (on the chief minister returning to jail on June 2) is clear. That is the decision of this court and we will be governed by the rule of law.”
Kejriwal, arrested on March 21 in a money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped controversial Delhi excise policy case, was granted interim bail by last week to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
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