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Observing that "right to life and liberty is sacrosanct, and Arvind Kejriwal has suffered incarceration of over 90 days", the top court granted him interim bail. The court also observed that since the adjudication of three questions of law referred by it to a larger bench would take time, Kejriwal should be granted interim bail.
A bench, headed by justice Sanjiv Khanna, granted interim bail to Kejriwal subject to certain conditions. Firstly, Kejriwal shall not visit the office of the chief minister and the Delhi Secretariat. Secondly, he shall be bound by the statement made on his behalf that he shall not sign official files unless it is required and necessary for obtaining clearance/approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.
Thirdly, he will not make any comment with regard to his alleged role in the Delhi excise case. And he will not interact with any of the witnesses and/or have access to any official files connected with the case. The top court clarified that the interim bail may be extended or recalled by the larger bench.
Observing that it is conscious of the fact that Kejriwal is "an elected leader and holding a post of importance and influence" the top court said "since we are doubtful whether the court can direct an elected leader to step down or not function as the chief minister or as a minister, we leave it to Arvind Kejriwal to take a call".
Significantly, the bench said that the larger bench "if deemed appropriate, can frame question(s) and decide the conditions that can be imposed by the court" in cases where an elected leader, despite having been arrested, can continue as a chief minister/minister.
The bench found force in Kejriwal's contentions that ED cannot be selective in ignoring exculpatory material against an accused. SC said ED officers "cannot ignore or not consider the material which exonerates the arrestee. Any such non-consideration would lead to difficult and unacceptable results". It said: "An officer cannot be allowed to selectively pick and choose material implicating the person to be arrested. They have to equally apply their mind to other material which absolves and exculpates the arrestee."
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