NEW DELHI :
DELHI Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
on Thursday vehemently opposed in
the Supreme Court the CBI’s argument
that he should have approached the
trial court first for bail in the corruption case linked to the alleged Excise
Policy scam, asserting it would not be
fair to send the matter back to the trial court at this stage.
After protracted arguments by the
counsel for the beleagueredAAP leader
and the central probe agency, the court
reserved its judgement on separate
pleas filed by Kejriwal for bail and
against his arrest by the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI).
Questioning the maintainability of
Kejriwal’s pleas, Additional Solicitor
General S V Raju, appearing for the
central agency, submitted that even in
the money laundering case in which
he had challenged his arrest by the
Enforcement Directorate (ED), he was
sent back by the apex court to the trial court.
“He has approached Delhi
High Court directly without going to
sessions court. Under Section 439 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC),
both have concurrent jurisdiction. My
preliminary objection is he must first
go to trial court. “He seems to be an
extraordinary person who
requiresdifferentapproach.
WhenallotherAamAaadmis
(common people) go to the
trialcourtforbail,therecannotbeaspecialtreatmentfor
anyone,” Raju told a bench
of Justices Surya Kant and
Ujjal Bhuyan.
Raju said if the Supreme
CourtgrantsbailtoKejriwal,
it will demoralise the Delhi
High Court, while had
upheld his arrest.
“Don’t say that.
Whatever
orderwepass,wewillensure
nothing like that happens,”
the bench assured Raju.
During the hearing, the
bench made an oral observation that if the high court
took a tentative view that
Kejriwal should have
approached trial court first,
then it should have opined
so when notice was issued
in the first place.
“Ideally, the High Court
shouldhavebeendecisiveon
this question. The High
Court should have passed
that order on that very day
whennoticewasissued,”the
benchsaid.Rajurepliedthat
HighCourtsare heavilyburdened and that the Delhi
High Court heard the matter on Muharram holiday.
Contending that arrest is
a part of an investigation,
Raju opposed bail for
Kejriwalandsaidhe isa very
influential person who may
tamperwith evidence inthe
case.