Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest in the 2021-22 excise policy case, and the unfolding drama in connected cases, hogged the limelight in the subordinate judiciary in the national capital in 2024.
Kejriwal, the first-ever sitting CM to be arrested in the country, was named as an accused in the case and held by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, and produced before a court the following day.
He was sent to ED’s custody, first until March 28, and then until April 1. However, Special Judge Niyay Bindu granted him bail on June 20, saying ED failed to give direct evidence against him concerning the proceeds of crime generated in the alleged scam. The Delhi High Court, however, stayed the order on June 21 on the request of the ED. Kejriwal was again arrested, on this occasion by the CBI, on June 26 in the corruption case related to the alleged scam. A court sent him to judicial custody on June 29 after being questioned by the CBI. The AAP national convener eventually got relief from the Supreme Court on July 12 in the ED case, and on September 13 in the CBI case which paved the way for his release from jail. The action in courts shifted to the custody proceedings of BRS leader K Kavitha in the same case after her arrest by the agencies on March 15 and April 11, respectively. The Supreme Court eventually stepped in and granted her bail on August 27 in both cases.
The agencies pointed to the role of a “south lobby” in the alleged scam. While the CBI chargesheeted Kejriwal in July, it had chargesheeted former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Telangana MLC Kavitha earlier.
The case of photographer Ankit Saxena, who was allegedly murdered by his girlfriend’s kin for belonging to another faith in 2018, saw a closure when the convicts were awarded rigorous life imprisonment on March 7.
The three included her parents, Akbar Ali and Shahnaz Begum, and maternal uncle Mohammad Salim.
On May 1, a court took cognisance of the chargesheets filed in cases against online news portal Newsclick’s founder Prabir Purkayastha. Former Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Singh, a BJP heavyweight, was accused of sexual harassment by women wrestlers and a complaint in this regard prompted a court to frame relevant charges against him on May 21. Besides Bhushan, co-accused Vinod Tomar, then assistant secretary of the WFI, also faced charges. They have pleaded not guilty. On July 1, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar was sentenced to five months’ simple imprisonment by a court in a defamation case filed by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena twenty-three years ago when he headed an NGO in Gujarat. The judge however suspended the sentence and her appeal is pending before a court.
Congress leader Karti Chidambaram was granted bail in an alleged Chinese-visa scam money laundering case on June 6.
Another Congress politician, Jagdish Tytler, is facing accusations of involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases. On September 13, charges of murder and other crimes were framed against him after he pleaded not guilty. An unusual situation emerged when a jailed politician contested 2024 Lok Sabha elections and won. Engineer Rashid, an accused in an alleged Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case, won from a J&K Lok Sabha seat in 2024 general elections. He was later granted interim bail on September 11 to campaign for assembly polls.
The relief was granted till October 2, and extended later, following which he surrendered on October 28. The court which had granted him the interim bail on December 23 refused to pass an order on his regular bail plea. The legal question — whether a court designated to try lawmakers be hearing his case — arose before the court and is pending decision in Delhi High Court.
Former JNU student Umar Khalid, student activist Sharjeel Imam and former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, accused in different northeast Delhi riots’ cases, did not get any relief from the court. Khalid however received a seven-day reprieve in December to attend a family wedding. In another case connected to the riots, a court framed attempt to murder and unlawful assembly charges against former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan, United Against Hate founder Khalid Saifi and eleven others. In the list of cases involving politicians was also the “land-for-jobs” case in which former Bihar CM and ex-railway minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and ex-Bihar CM Rabri Devi, their sons, ex-Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and former Bihar minister Tej Pratap Yadav, and daughters, MP Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav. They all got bail by a special court. Lalu and sons were granted bail on October 7. Senior AAP leader and former minister Satyendar Jain, who faced money laundering charges, got bail after 18 months of incarceration on October 18. A ruling that caused significant flutter was the release of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan. The court directed his release on November 14 while refusing to take cognisance of a chargesheet against him in a case of irregularities in the Delhi Waqf case. In a twist of fate, Another AAP MLA Naresh Balyan was arrested in a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act case soon after a court granted him bail in a separate extortion case on December 4. While the bulk of litigation involved requests for interim and regular bails, it will be interesting to see if subordinate courts start conducting trials and pronounce judgments in these cases come 2025. PTI UK MNR AMK
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