The Supreme Court has granted bail to Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader K. Kavitha, who is lodged in Tihar Jail in a money laundering case related to the Delhi excise ‘scam’.
The court said in its judgment that prolonged imprisonment before conviction was tantamount to “punishment without trial”.
The court also said that the fundamental right to liberty takes precedence over restrictions imposed by the anti-money laundering law.
Kavita (46) was in jail since her arrest on March 15 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) later arrested her on April 11 in the main corruption case.
A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Vishwanathan granted him bail in both the cases on Tuesday and questioned the central investigative agencies on the fairness of the investigation. The bench asked whether they are free to choose any accused as per their wish.
At the same time, citing various judgments, including the case of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and co-accused Manish Sisodia, the verdict said, “Prolonged imprisonment before being convicted of a crime should not be allowed to become a punishment without trial.”
The judgment said, “We have held that the fundamental right to liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is superior to statutory restrictions (Prevention of Money Laundering Act).”
The bench said that the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have completed their investigation and Kavita’s custody is not required for the investigation.
Taking note of Kavita being in jail for the last five months, the bench said 493 witnesses were yet to be examined and about 50,000 pages of documents were to be considered, making it impossible to conclude the trial in the near future.
“We also reiterate the well-settled principle that ‘bail is the rule and denial is the exception’,” the bench said. The bench also considered Section 45 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), which lays down two conditions that need to be fulfilled before granting bail to an accused under the anti-money laundering law.
These two conditions are that the judge must be prima facie satisfied that the accused has not committed any offence and is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.
The bench also found erroneous the Delhi High Court’s decision in which Kavita was not granted the benefit of bail under Section 45(1) of the PMLA, which gives a woman the right to special relief.
The said provision of Section 45(1) of the PMLA states that “any person– who is below 16 years of age, or is a woman or is a person of sick or infirm mind, or who is accused, either alone or with other co-accused, of money laundering of an amount less than one crore rupees, may be released on bail, provided the special court so directs.” The apex court bench said that the high court had come to the conclusion that Kavita was a highly qualified and highly competent person.
Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is accused of being part of a group (South Group) of businessmen and political leaders who allegedly paid a bribe of Rs 100 crore to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi in exchange for liquor licenses. However, Kavitha has denied these allegations.
The post Long imprisonment is punishment without trial; Supreme Court said on K Kavita’s bail, why did it mention fundamental rights… appeared first on .