Why the Supreme Court criticised the delay in bail for Opposition leaders in Delhi liquor case
The court rejected the claims of the central agency and took lower courts to task for refusing bail to Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and K Kavitha.
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In orders granting bail to three Opposition leaders in the Delhi liquor policy money-laundering case over the past two months, the Supreme Court rejected some claims made by the Enforcement Directorate and criticised the reasoning of lower courts for keeping the politicians in jail.
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party National Convener Arvind Kejriwal was given interim bail on July 12 and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was given bail on August 9.
Former parliamentarian and legislative council member from Telangana K Kavitha was granted bail on August 27.
Liquor licence policy
The cases spring from the Aam Aadmi Party government’s decision in March 2021 to make sweeping changes to the liquor policy for Delhi, granting licences not to individual shops but to entire zones.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-run Central government accused the Delhi government of tailoring the policy to suit a select group of businessmen and giving them licences in exchange for kickbacks.
In July 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigation launched an inquiry into alleged financial irregularities and corruption in the liquor licence regime. Manish Sisodia, who had drafted the policy as Delhi’s excise minister, was arrested by the agency in February 2023.
Sisodia was also booked in a money-laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate. It accused him of using the alleged bribes generated from the sale of liquor licenses to...
