'What is the miscarriage of justice? He is a CM': Arvind Kejriwal's lawyer after Delhi HC pauses his bail

As the Delhi High Court began the hearings on Arvind Kejriwal's bail upon Enforcement Directorate's plea, Delhi CM's attorney Abhishek Manu Singhvi made some harsh arguments in court charging ED of not respecting the fundamental rights of a person. 

"There may be a case that interim case is there because of flight risk. But no argument is made. On June 2 he went back. The problem is for ED, Article 21 is non existent," Singhvi said arguing that Kejriwal has not been disobeying any court orders.

He further said, "What is the miscarriage of justice? He is a CM. He was out on bail for few days. He went back. Does Article 21 and liberty has no weight? You could take a different view, I can take a different view. Third party can take a different view. That is not perversity."

Arguing the nature of a stay order on Arvind Kejriwal's bail, Singhvi said that a stay means cancellation and granting bail and then reversing bail are two different aspects of the law.

The Delhi High Court allowed an urgent hearing on Enforcement Directorate against bail granted to Arvind Kejriwal, today morning. Court said that the trial court order will not be given effect till HC hears the matter.

The Enforcement Directorate moved the Delhi High Court against the trial court's order granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy money laundering case today morning.

The Delhi chief minister was expected to be released from Tihar jail today. Kejriwal was granted bail as his lawyer argued that ED had no evidence against him. 

Before Kejriwal's release this evening, AAP was expected to stage a protest over a water shortage in the capital. Water Minister Atishi and Kejriwal's wife, Sunita, will visit Raj Ghat, where Atishi will start an indefinite hunger strike.

Kejriwal on Thursday was granted bail in the alleged excise policy case. After the order was passed, the ED asked for 48 hours to sign the bail bond to appeal the verdict to a higher court. The judge declined to delay the order. 

The Delhi CM can walk out of Tihar Jail on Friday after paying a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh. The bail bond will be produced before the Duty judge on Friday.

Earlier in the day, a Delhi court had reserved its order on Kejriwal’s plea seeking bail in the money laundering case, which is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the alleged irregularities into the now-scrapped excise policy in Delhi, a Live Law report said. 

Rouse Avenue Court had also reserved its order in Kejriwal’s plea for permitting his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, to participate via video conference in his examination by the medical board .

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 over money laundering allegations related to the 2021-22 Delhi liquor policy, which was later scrapped. The ED claims the money received from liquor sellers was used to fund AAP's campaign in Goa. Kejriwal and AAP have consistently maintained that the Centre is misusing its agencies to harass the Opposition with false cases.