SC grants bail to Manish Sisodia, says right to speedy trial sacrosanct

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, who has been in jail for 17 months, and sharply rebuked the courts below saying his long incarceration without trial had deprived him of the right to speedy justice.

Observing that "bail is rule and jail is exception", the top court said it is high time trial courts and high courts recognised this principle.

"As observed time and again, prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial," a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said, while describing Sisodia as a man with "deep roots in society".

The top court granted him bail in the separate corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

Hours later, a Delhi court issued an order for Sisodia's release after accepting the bail bonds and surety bonds submitted by his advocates.

In its 38-page judgement, the apex court directed that Sisodia be released on bail on a personal bond of Rs 10 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.

The former deputy chief minister of Delhi was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023 over purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023. He resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28 last year.

Soon after the apex court's verdict, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Education Minister Atishi said on X "Satyamev Jayate" (truth alone triumphs).

In a post on X in Hindi, AAP MP Raghav Chadha said, "The whole country is happy today as Manish Sisodia, the hero of Delhi education revolution, got bail. I express my gratitude to the Honourable Supreme Court from the bottom of my heart."

After the apex court pronounced its verdict, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, who represented the CBI and ED, urged the bench that same conditions, as imposed by the top court on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while granting him interim bail in the excise policy-linked money laundering case, be imposed on Sisodia.

While ordering Kejriwal's release on May 10 to enable him campaign in the Lok Sabha polls, the top court had laid down the condition that he will not visit the CM office or the Delhi Secretariat during the interim relief.

When Raju read out the conditions, Justice Gavai said, "We are not inclined."

"We have imposed conditions to address your concern," Justice Gavai told the law officer.

Raju said if there was any tampering with evidence, the probe agencies may move for cancellation of bail granted to Sisodia.

"That (option) is always there," Justice Gavai said, adding, "In the matters of liberty, every day counts."

Listing out the conditions for his bail, the top court said Sisodia will have to surrender his passport to the special trial court 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 10-11 am, it said.

"We find that, on account of a long period of incarceration running for around 17 months and the trial even not having been commenced, the appellant (Sisodia) has been deprived of his right to speedy trial," the bench said.

"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," it said.

Over a period of time, the court has observed that trial courts and high courts have forgotten a very well-settled principle of law that bail is not to be withheld as a punishment, the bench said while referring to earlier judgments.

"From our experience, we can say that it appears that the trial courts and the high courts attempt to play safe in matters of grant of bail. The principle that bail is a rule and refusal is an exception is, at times, followed in breach," it said.

The bench said on account of non-grant of bail even in straightforward open and shut cases, the apex court is flooded with a huge number of bail petitions. This, it said, adds to the huge pendency.

Keeping Sisodia behind bars for an unlimited period of time in the hope of speedy completion of trial would deprive him of his fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, the judges said.

The bench set aside the May 21 verdict of the Delhi High Court which had dismissed Sisodia's pleas seeking bail in both these cases.

It observed that citizens cannot be made to run from pillar to post in matters pertaining to life and liberty which are the most sacrosanct rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

It also said the trial court's finding that Sisodia was responsible for delaying the trial in these cases was not supported by the record.

The bench rejected the preliminary objection raised by the CBI and ED that Sisodia cannot be permitted to file a second set of special leave petitions to challenge the Delhi High Court's May 21 verdict which denied him bail in the excise policy cases.