Justice Ujjal Bhuyan questioned the CBI’s intention and timing behind Kejriwal’s arrest and remarked that the arrest was “only to frustrate the bail granted to… Kejriwal… in the ED case”. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)
The Narendra Modi government’s worst fears have come true: Arvind Kejriwal has been granted bail by the Supreme Court in connection with the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) complaint in the Delhi excise policy case. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan questioned the CBI’s intention and timing behind Kejriwal’s arrest and remarked that the arrest was “only to frustrate the bail granted to… Kejriwal… in the ED case”. He also chastised the CBI to not act like “a caged parrot”, a seemingly direct reference to the government’s control over it.
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is a textbook case study of how the Modi government has weaponised the law to settle political scores, topple governments and stifle the Opposition. Its most worrying aspect is Section 45, which makes it nearly impossible for the accused to get bail. The provision states that the accused will get bail only if the judge has reasonable grounds for believing that the accused has not committed the offence alleged. This onerous condition reduces the requirements for arrest to the bare minimum — all that the government and its “caged parrot” then need is an accusation, enabling them to arrest and incarcerate any Opposition leader for months, even years. In a country where trials take months and years to begin and end, this is like death by a thousand cuts as an accused continues to rot in jail without any trial or conviction.
The Aam Aadmi Party is the worst victim of the Modi government’s “lawfare”. Its entire leadership – from Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia to Sanjay Singh and Vijay Nair – has been victimised by the Modi government’s weaponising of the law and the investigation agency to settle political scores. Each one of the cases has fallen flat as they are examined in court. Justice Sanjiv Khanna remarked that the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) case against Manish Sisodia will “fall flat” after “two questions in the cross-examination”, and Judge Nyay Bindu ruled that the ED has failed to furnish direct evidence linking Kejriwal to the proceeds of the crime. The ED withdrew its objection to bail to Sanjay Singh at the first moment the Supreme Court began its examination of facts.
The BJP’s frustration is even higher in the case of the AAP for its standard modus operandi has failed. In other opposition party’s cases, it slaps the cases against leaders, and then either arrests them or cases against turncoats seem to disappear. At least 95 per cent of prominent politicians against whom central investigation agencies took action after 2014 were from the Opposition. Twenty-three of 25 Opposition leaders accused of corruption have gotten relief from investigations after joining the BJP since 2014.
However, a strong wall of defence of our upright judges stand has repeatedly pushed back and started to chip away the draconian parts of the PMLA. Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai ruled that the constitutional guarantee under Article 21 is superior to any statutory restriction.
The AAP has faced the onslaught bravely and emerged stronger in this ordeal by fire. The entire party is united and re-energised. The BJP has tried to bury us, but it does not realise — we are seeds.
The writer is Minister of Finance, PWD, power, education, revenue, planning, services, vigilance in the Delhi Government and a senior AAP leader.
