The Delhi High Court has allowed a plea filed by jailed Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal to hold two additional meetings with his legal team while he is lodged in Tihar Jail, saying ‘special situations call for special remedies’. Kejriwal, was hitherto entitled to two meetings with his lawyers a week, in accordance with prison rules.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna granted the relief to Kejriwal in recognition of his fundamental right to fair trial and effective legal representation.
“Special situations call for special remedies. In view of the foregoing discussion, it is held that in recognition of fundamental right of fair trial and effective legal representation, the petitioner be granted two additional legal meetings with the Counsel through video conferencing in a week, till he is confined to Jail. The petition, is accordingly, allowed,” the Court said.
In its order, the court said, “It can also not be ignored that similar relief of additional legal meetings has been allowed to co-accused/Sanjay Singh. While the Learned special counsel for the respondent No. 2 has explained that the said Order was essentially ex parte, is not tenable since the respondents had appeared in the end while the Order was being passed and even thereafter, it has not been challenged by the State”.
However, the High Court has now opined that Kejriwal is only seeking the enforcement of his fundamental right to a fair trial and legal consultation while he is confined to Tihar Jail as he has 30-40 cases in various States against him.
“To confine this fundamental right to a particular case and to insist on an independent application in each case is not only taking a myopic view but would result in a multiplicity of similar relief being asserted in different cases; in fact it can lead to utter confusion if such relief is considered a pertaining to individual case and not individual person.
To ask the petitioner to move independent Application in each case would lead to delay but may indirectly be denying him the right of effective legal help,” the Court said.
The Court concluded that any objections on such aspects are only technical objections that hold no merit.
“It is pertinent to observe that the Jail policy has been enacted by the concerned Jail Authority after having due regard to all the modalities and the infrastructural capacity and number of the inmates of the jail. Therefore, generally, the courts are slow to interfere in the matters of policy”, reads the order.
. However, when balancing the policy with the fundamental rights of the jail inmate, the request of the petitioner for two additional legal meetings with his Lawyers through video conferencing, in the given circumstance of huge number of cases pending against him, cannot be termed unreasonable,” reads the order.
The AAP leader’s counsel had submitted he was facing around 35 cases across the country, and for a fair trial, he required two additional meetings with his lawyers via video conference.
The plea was vehemently opposed by the counsel for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Tihar jail authorities.
The AAP leader was arrested by the CBI on June 26 from Tihar Jail, where he was lodged in judicial custody in a connected money laundering case filed by the ED.
