{"id":42434,"date":"2025-11-08T08:21:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=42434"},"modified":"2025-11-10T11:53:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:23:55","slug":"supreme-court-grants-bail-to-delhi-cm-in-cbi-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/supreme-court-grants-bail-to-delhi-cm-in-cbi-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Grants Bail to Delhi CM in CBI Case: Key Highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)<\/li>\n<li>Criticism of CBI<\/li>\n<li>Background- timeline of the case<\/li>\n<li>Key highlights of the judgement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Supreme Court has granted bail to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the CBI\u2019s complaint in the Delhi excise policy case. However, the apex court placed certain conditions.<\/p>\n<p>While pronouncing the verdict, one of the judges of the bench criticized the CBI for its conduct in the case, emphasizing that as the country&#8217;s leading investigative agency, it must work diligently to eliminate any doubts about the fairness of its investigation or potential bias in arrests.<\/p>\n<p>He also recalled past instances where the Court had harshly rebuked the CBI, even likening it to a &#8220;caged parrot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/cbi\/\" target=\"_blank\">Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)<\/a> is the premier investigative agency of India.<\/li>\n<li>The agency was established in 1963 by the Indian government as a result of the recommendation of the Santhanam Committee.<\/li>\n<li>CBI is <strong>not a statutory body<\/strong>. It derives its power to investigate from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Control<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (which in turn operated under PMO).<\/li>\n<li>However, for investigation of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, CBI vests superintendence to the Central Vigilance Commission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Functions<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Initially, it was set up to investigate corruption in government departments and public sector undertakings.<\/li>\n<li>However, over the years, its jurisdiction has expanded to cover a wide range of cases, including economic offenses, cyber-crimes, organized crimes, and special crimes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Criticism of CBI<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Guided By Pre-independence Act<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>The CBI is still guided by DPSE Act 1946, whose provisions hamper the accountability and autonomy of the institutions.<\/li>\n<li>In 2013, the Guwahati HC, in a judgement, had termed CBI as unconstitutional as it has no statutory backing.<\/li>\n<li>It was later stayed by the Supreme Court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Politically inclined<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>There have been instances where CBI has been politically biased as it is vulnerable to undue political pressure.<\/li>\n<li>During the coal block investigation, the CBI was asked to share the findings with the government.<\/li>\n<li>The carrot of post-retirement benefit makes CBI chief prone to toeing the lines of incumbent government.<\/li>\n<li>The image of a premier investigating agency suffered a serious setback when the Supreme Court of India termed CBI as caged parrot with many masters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Delays in case solving<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It <\/strong>shows the inefficiency and inefficacy of this top most investigating agency of India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Corruption and Nepotism<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Ex-CBI director Joginder singh in his book revealed about the prevalent corruption and nepotism within the agency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Turf war<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2019, the agency was involved in turf war between its director and its special director. Both had accused each other of corruption and money laundering.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Background- timeline of the case<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Delhi CM arrested twice in connection with the excise policy case<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>March 21, 2024: Arrested by the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-is-the-enforcement-directorate-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\">Enforcement Directorate (ED)<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>June 26, 2024: Arrested by the CBI while already in custody.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail in ED Case<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>July 12, 2024: The Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail in the ED case, but he remained in jail due to pending CBI proceedings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Delhi High Court Upholds CBI Arrest<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>August 5, 2024: The Delhi High Court upheld the CBI\u2019s arrest decision and instructed Kejriwal to approach the trial court for bail.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Delhi HC Order challenged at Supreme Court<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Delhi CM filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court&#8217;s decision.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, the apex court granted bail to Delhi CM.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Key highlights of the judgement<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Granted bail<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan unanimously agreed on the question of granting bail to Delhi Chief Minister in the CBI case.<\/li>\n<li>The judges determined that the Delhi CM satisfied the <strong>\u201ctriple test\u201d for bail<\/strong>: no risk of evidence tampering, no flight risk, and no undue influence on witnesses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bail conditions imposed<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In separate but concurring orders, the bench of Justices extended the bail conditions imposed in the ED matter to the CBI case as well.<\/li>\n<li>The conditions of his bail included:\n<ul>\n<li>No visits to the Chief Minister\u2019s Office or the Delhi Secretariat.<\/li>\n<li>No signing of official files unless required for the Lieutenant Governor\u2019s clearance.<\/li>\n<li>No public comments about the case or interaction with witnesses.<\/li>\n<li>Full cooperation with the trial and attendance at court hearings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diverging opinions on the necessity of arrest<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>During the hearings, both sides relied on Sections 41(1)(b) and 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC).<\/li>\n<li>Section 41(1)(b) lays down the conditions for arrest without a warrant.<\/li>\n<li>Section 41A deals with the appearance of an accused before police in cases where arrest is not required.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Arguments extended by Delhi CM<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Delhi CM argued that the conditions for his arrest under Section 41(1)(b) were not met.<\/li>\n<li>He was not served a notice under Section 41A prior to his interrogation by the CBI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Justice Kant\u2019s Rulings on Sections 41(1)(b) and 41A<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Justice Kant ruled that Section 41(1)(b) was not applicable since a CBI Special Judge had authorized Delhi CM&#8217;s arrest.<\/li>\n<li>He also clarified that Section 41A does not require a notice to be served to someone already in judicial custody, as Kejriwal was in relation to an ED case at the time.<\/li>\n<li>Justice Kant upheld the CBI\u2019s reasoning for arrest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Justice Bhuyan\u2019s Criticism of the CBI&#8217;s Actions<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Justice Bhuyan rejected the CBI&#8217;s justification for arresting Kejriwal, stating that the agency cannot demand that an accused must answer in a manner that satisfies the investigators to be deemed cooperative.<\/li>\n<li>He invoked <strong>Article 20(3) of the Indian Constitution<\/strong>, which protects individuals from self-incrimination, emphasizing that <strong>an accused has the right to remain silent<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>He also raised concerns about the timing of Kejriwal\u2019s arrest, noting that the CBI sought his custody immediately after he was granted bail in another case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What were the bail conditions imposed on the Delhi CM in the CBI case?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The bail conditions included prohibiting the Delhi CM from visiting his office, signing official files without the Lieutenant Governor\u2019s approval, making public comments on the case, or interacting with witnesses.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. Why did Justice Bhuyan criticize the CBI&#8217;s arrest of the Delhi CM?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Justice Bhuyan questioned the timing of the arrest and the CBI\u2019s justification, asserting that an accused\u2019s right to remain silent should not be interpreted as a lack of cooperation, as protected under Article 20(3) of the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/supreme-court-grants-bail-arvind-kejriwal-delhi-excise-policy-case-9565452\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kejriwal is free after Supreme Court grants bail, judge puts CBI in the dock<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scobserver.in\/journal\/supreme-court-grants-bail-to-arvind-kejriwal-in-cbi-case-bench-splits-over-the-validity-of-arrest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Supreme Court Observer<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/unpacking-kejriwal-bail-order-9566578\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Indian Express<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/accused-has-the-right-to-remain-silent-during-interrogation-says-justice-bhuyan\/article68639094.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn about the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to grant bail to Delhi CM in the CBI case, including the court&#8217;s criticism of the investigation and the conditions imposed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","7":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}