Setback For Kejriwal As Supreme Court Refuses To Hear His Plea Seeking Extension Of Interim Bail

In a setback for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (29 May) refused to entertain the AAP chief's plea seeking a seven-day extension of his interim bail.

The apex court had last month granted interim bail to Kejriwal to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and had asked him to surrender on 2 June, a day after the last leg of polling.

The Supreme Court registrar, while refusing the plea, said that the Delhi Chief Minister was given the liberty to move trial court for regular bail, and hence this petition is "not maintainable".

The SC bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had on 17 May reserved the verdict on Kejriwals' challenge to the validity of his arrest by ED in a PMLA case linked to liquor scam.

Refusing to accept application, SC said that since the verdict is already reserved on challenge to arrest, Kejriwal’s plea for extension of interim bail has no relation to main petition, Indian Express reported.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had sought an urgent hearing of his plea demanding extension of seven days in interim bail.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, argued that the Delhi CM needs bail extension to undergo some medical tests.

The bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and K V Vishwanathan refused to entertain the urgent hearing for extension of bail that expires on 1 June.

It questioned why the demand of extension was not mentioned when the Supreme Court approved Kejriwal's interim bail for 21 days on 10 May in the Delhi liquor policy case.

Singhvi responded that the need was felt after some preliminary medical tests. 'Unexplained weight loss of 7 kgs' was cited as the main reason for need of tests.

"My health condition is partly attributable to the callous behaviour of the jail authorities. Another week of bail will allow me to take a stock of health complications," Kejriwal's plea said.

It further added that Kejriwal spent most of his time while campaigning for Lok Sabha elections, instead of focusing on his health and could have only one check-up done at the Max hospital.

A PET-CT scan also needs to be done for him as per Kejriwal's legal counsels. 

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