Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday night was released from jail after 530 days as the Supreme Court granted him bail earlier in the day in the excise policy scam case saying he is entitled to a “speedy trial” and that returning him to a trial court would be like making him “play snakes and ladders”.
A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan also said keeping the AAP leader in jail for an “unlimited time”, without a trial, is in violation of his fundamental rights.
Listing the conditions for his bail, the top court directed Sisodia to furnish a bail bond of `10 lakh with two sureties, surrender his passport and not make any attempt to either influence witnesses or tamper with evidence. Besides, he will have to report to the investigating officer every Monday and Thursday between 10 and 11 am.
“We find that, on account of a long period of incarceration running to around 17 months and the trial having not commenced, the appellant (Sisodia) has been deprived of his right to speedy trial,” the bench said. The apex court had reserved its order in the case on August 6.
Minutes after the bail order, celebrations broke out at the AAP office as well as residence of Sisodia. Hours later, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja accepted the bail bonds and surety bonds submitted by the advocates representing Sisodia.
The AAP hailed the SC decision as “victory of truth” and added that it hoped that other jailed leaders of the party “will also get justice.” The AAP further said the order is a “tight slap” on the dictatorship of the BJP-led Centre but rued that the relief came after a year’s delay.
Sisodia, who was wearing a maroon shirt, greeted the party workers and leaders, who showered rose petals on him as he walked out of the jail around 6.50 pm.
Addressing the supporters and media after his release, Sisodia expressed his deep gratitude towards Dr BR Ambedkar, saying, “Ever since this order came in the morning, every inch of my skin has been feeling indebted to Babasaheb. I don’t understand how I will pay off this debt to Babasaheb.”
“We have brought this legal battle to its logical end through the Constitution. I thank you all for being with me,” Sisodia said and added that he had many of admirers but their numbers have increased in the last 17 months. “Not only me but every Delhi resident, and children of the country were with me emotionally in jail. I thank the SC from the bottom of my heart for using the power of Constitution to give a hard slap to the dictatorship in the country,” he said.
The AAP leader said it was an emotional moment for everyone and hoped that the power of Constitution and democracy will pave the way for release of Kejriwal.
He raised the slogan, “Bhrasthachaar ka ek hi kaal, Kejriwal, Kejriwal”.
Holding aloft flags and cheering loudly, crowds of AAP supporters waited to welcome Sisodia as stepped out of jail. Senior AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Atishi, and Saurabh Bharadwaj were present outside Tihar to receive Sisodia.
Sisodia is a founding member of the AAP and a close confidant of party chief Kejriwal. The bail to Sisodia is a shot in the arm for the beleaguered party, which is gearing up to contest the Haryana Assembly polls and the Delhi elections in the next few months. His release comes as a big win for the AAP. This is because of the three big AAP leaders who were arrested in the liquor policy case, just Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal remains behind bars.
Sisodia’s release also comes as the AAP struggles to govern Delhi and counter Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
According to experts, Sisodia will have to wait to join the Delhi Cabinet as there are several issues that need to be dealt with since the Chief Minister himself is in jail. “For Sisodia to be inducted in his Council of Ministers, Kejriwal needs to send his recommendation to the Lieutenant Governor from Tihar Jail, which seems difficult currently,” experts said.
The AAP leader was arrested in February 2023 by the CBI followed by the ED a month later after a case was registered based on a complaint by the Delhi L-G in July 2022 alleging irregularities in the excise policy. Prior to his arrest on February 26 last year, Sisodia was not only the key face of the Delhi Government, but also the party’s go-to man in terms of firefighting during critical times and highlighting its stand on political and national issues.
Thus his arrest was a bolt from the blue for the party, which somehow managed to brave the situation but could never fully recover from his absence.
It was no wonder that various party leaders, at different points in time, remembered him saying had he been out, things would have been different. Party leaders feel Sisodia’s presence will bolster its election campaign, especially in Delhi where it is looking for a third consecutive term and aiming for a performance similar to that of 2015 and 2020 when it won 67 and 62 seats respectively.
“Incarceration of 18 months... Trial not having even commenced and appellant has been deprived of right to speedy trial, “ Justice Gavai said as he asked questions of the lower courts.
“Keeping appellant behind bars for unlimited time will deny fundamental right. Appellant has deep roots in society... no apprehension of fleeing. Anyway... conditions can be imposed.”
“Trial court and High Court ought to have given due weightage to this. Courts have forgotten that bail ought not to be withheld as punishment. Principle bail is the rule and jail an exception...” the court said, acknowledging that the prolonged period of incarceration was untenable.
“As observed time and again, prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial,” the bench said while describing Sisodia as a man with “deep roots in society”. “Bail can’t be rejected as punishment (of the accused),” the court declared. The accused’s right to liberty is “sacrosanct”, the court said firmly, dismissing a lower court’s contention that Mr Sisodia had attempted to delay the trial and so should not be released.
“If the investigation itself was to conclude on or before 3rd July 2024, the question is how could the trial have commenced prior to that? If the investigation itself was to conclude after a period of 8 months from the date of the first order of this Court, there was no question of the trial being concluded within a period of 6-8 months from the date of the first order of this Court. We find that both the High Court and the trial court have failed to take this into consideration. As observed by this Court, the right to speedy trial and the right to liberty are sacrosanct rights. On denial of these rights, the trial court as well as the High Court ought to have given due weightage to this factor,” the judgement said.
In the present case, in the ED matter as well as the CBI matter, 493 witnesses have been named. The case involves thousands of pages of documents and over a lakh pages of digitized documents. It is thus clear that there is not even the remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future. In our view, keeping the appellant behind the bars for an unlimited period of time in the hope of speedy completion of trial would deprive his fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. As observed time and again, the prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial. This was the third time when Sisodia had approached the top court for bail.
