Delhi excise policy case: ED objects on Kejriwal's campaign speech; SC says didn't make exception for anyone
New Delhi: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Thursday raised objection before the Supreme Court to a speech by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that if people vote for his party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, he wouldn't have to go to jail.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta said it will not go into this and its order is clear when he has to surrender on June 2.
During the hearing of Kejriwal's plea against his arrest and subsequent remand in the Delhi excise policy case, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for ED, told the bench that after coming out of the jail on interim bail, Kejriwal violated conditions of bail and has said that if people will vote for his party, he wouldn't have to go to jail.
"How can Arvind Kejriwal say this? It is a slap on the face of the institution," the Solicitor General said.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, said that he can also file an affidavit on what a top Government Minister has said about the Supreme Court's order on granting interim bail to him.
The bench said it will not go into this and while grating bail, it "did not make an exception for anybody".
Kejriwal has said that if the opposition INDIA bloc wins the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, he would be back from Tihar Jail on June 5, a day after the results are announced.
Kejriwal was granted bail to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls and he has to surrender on June 2.
Kejriwal's comments in an election rally that a vote for the "broom" (Aam Aadmi Party symbol) would ensure that he does not return to jail have come under fire from Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Shah called the comment a "clear contempt of the Supreme Court".
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Amit Shah also asked the judges who pronounced the interim bail judgement of Arvind Kejriwal to check if the order was "used or misused."
"I believe that this is a clear contempt of the Supreme Court. So what he wants to say is that if he wins, even if he is guilty, the Supreme Court will not send him to jail. Now that judges who pronounced the judgement have to see if their judgement is used or misused," Amit Shah told ANI.
He also said that many people feel the Supreme Court's decision granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case is akin to him getting special treatment. Amit Shah said that the judgement in the case was not a routine judicial order.
"Supreme Court has the right to interpret the law, I believe this is not a routine judgement. A lot of people in this country believe that special treatment has been given," Shah told ANI.
