SC grants bail to ex-AAP functionary Vijay Nair

New Delhi : In a relief to former AAP communication in-charge Vijay Nair, the Supreme Court on Monday granted him bail after nearly 23 months of incarceration in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, observing that liberty is “sacrosanct” and needs to be respected in cases involving even stringent laws.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti also relied upon the legal principle of “bail is rule and jail is exception” referred to by a bench headed by Justice B R Gavai while granting bail to AAP leader and former deputy chief Minister Manish Sisodia and and BRS leader K Kavitha in the same case. Sisodia was granted bail on August 9 by the top court which also extended the same relief to Kavitha on August 27.

However, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is yet to get it in the corruption case lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the main corruption case. “The right to liberty under Article 21 (of the Constitution) is a sacrosanct right which needs to be respected even in cases where stringent provisions are invoked. The petitioner has been in custody for 23 months...the petitioner has been in custody for 23 months and is incarcerated as an undertrial.

“There cannot be a mode of punishment without a trial being commenced.

The universal proposition of ‘bail being the rule and jail being the exception’ will be entirely defeated if the petitioner is kept in custody as an undertrial for such a long duration when the sentence can only be 7 years maximum in the event of conviction. We are of the view that the petitioner deserves bail. Accordingly, bail is granted on the terms in this order,” Justice Roy said in the order.

It took note of submission that Nair was in jail since November 13, 2022 in the money laundering case and the maximum sentence in the event of conviction is seven years. “The bail having been granted to co-accused Manish Sisodia and K Kavitha are also pressed on behalf of petitioner to submit that bail should be favourably considered for petitioner,” it noted while rejecting the submissions of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that the twin conditions restricting grant of bail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) have to be considered. Section 45 of the PMLA provides for the twin conditions which are required to be satisfied before granting bail to an accused under the anti-money laundering law. The twin conditions are that the judge should be prima facie satisfied that the accused has not committed the offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.