Granting bail to Manish Sisodia, the top court said he is in custody for 17 months and trial has not yet commenced, adding that this deprives his right to speedy trial. "It would be travesty of justice to relegate Manish Sisodia to trial court for seeking bail," said the Supreme Court.
Tears rolled down Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi's eyes as she spoke on party colleague Manish Sisodia's bail, granted by the Supreme Court on Friday, at an event in Delhi, saying the former deputy chief minister and education minister was in jail because he gave 25 per cent of the Delhi Budget to children of the city.
Manish Sisodia, in jail for 17 months, was granted bail by the Supreme Court in Friday in the Delhi excise policy case for which Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is also in jail.
Granting bail to Manish Sisodia, the top court said he is in custody for 17 months and trial has not yet commenced, adding that this deprives his right to speedy trial. "It would be travesty of justice to relegate Manish Sisodia to trial court for seeking bail," said the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court also said it is "high time" trial courts and high courts recognise principle of "bail is rule and jail is exception."
Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023 for his alleged involvement in the purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023.
Speaking on Manish Sisodia's bail at an event in Delhi's Dwarka , AAP's Atishi got emotional.
"Today, when Manish Sisodia has been granted bail, the inauguration of a school, foundation of which was laid by him, is happening. Why was Manish Sisodia put in jail? He was put in jail because he was giving good education to poor children of Delhi. He was put in jail because he was such a Deputy CM and Education Minister who gave 25 per cent of the Delhi Budget to children of Delhi," she said.
The AAP on Friday called the Supreme Court verdict as a "victory of truth" and hoped that other jailed leaders of the party "will also get justice".
In a post on X in Hindi, party MP Raghav Chadha said, "The whole country is happy today as Manish Sisodia, the hero of Delhi education revolution, got bail. I express my gratitude to the Honorable Supreme Court from the bottom of my heart."
"Manish ji was kept behind the bars for 530 days. His crime was that he gave a better future to the children of the poor. Dear children, your Manish uncle is coming back," Chadha said.
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Hailing Sisodia's bail as a "victory of truth", AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, said, "This verdict is a slap on the Centre's dictatorship. He was in jail for 17 months. His life was destroyed in those months. He could have worked for the education of children during that time."
"We hope that other leaders of the party, Arvind Kejriwal and Satyendar Jain, will also get bail and justice. I bow down before the Supreme Court for this verdict," he added.