Granting relief to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's aide in an illegal mining case filed by the Enforcement Directorate, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held that even in money laundering cases, "bail is a rule and jail is an exception".
The Supreme Court had said the same while granting bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader an former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia earlier this month. He was in custody for 17 months in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said on Wednesday that the the court has held that even in cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), "bail is a rule and jail is an exception," adding that "no person should be deprived of its liberty".
The Supreme Court on Wednesday cited Section 45 of the PMLA which lays down twin conditions for bail of an accused in a money laundering case does not rewrite the principle to mean that deprivation of liberty is the norm.
The top court referred to the August 9 verdict granting bail to Manish Sidoia to say that liberty of the individual is always the rule and deprivation of it by procedure established by law is the exception.
"Twin test under section 45 of the PMLA does not take away this principle," the bench held.
The Supreme Court granted bail to Prem Prakash, who is alleged to be a close aide of Soren by the ED and has been accused of being involved in illegal mining in the state.
The top court set aside the March 22 order of the Jharkhand High Court denying him bail and directed the trial court to expedite the trial in the case.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was also granted bail on June 28 in an alleged land scam case, for which he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in January this year.
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