The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi excise policy case. The Aam Aadmi Party chief had challenged his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and sought bail. The Delhi CM, who was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, was taken into custody by the CBI on June 26, after he was granted bail in the ED case.

Kejriwal’s counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said it was done to ensure that he stays behind bars.

The two-judge bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan had reserved the verdict after hearing arguments from both sides on September 5. While delivering the order, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan raised concerns over the urgency of Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI, pointing out that the timing of the arrest raised more questions than it answered.

The court noted that Kejriwal was interrogated by the CBI in March 2023, but the agency did not arrest him then. The CBI’s sudden move to seek Kejriwal’s custody after nearly 22 months of inactivity suggested the arrest was strategically timed to frustrate the bail granted in the ED case, the court observed.

Justice Bhuyan rejected the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Raju’s argument that Kejriwal should have approached the trial court for bail. The court found this submission untenable, especially since Kejriwal had already been granted bail in the ED case. The judge reiterated that bail should be the norm in a developed judicial system, and further detention was “wholly untenable.”

He also emphasised that the process of arrest should not serve as a means of harassment, stressing that the CBI’s actions in this case were unjustified. As a result, the court ordered Kejriwal’s immediate release.

Justice Bhuyan also criticised the CBI for its unjustified actions and harassment and ordered Kejriwal’s immediate release.

In a scathing remark, Justice Bhuyan stated that the CBI must rise above the public perception of being a “caged parrot”. He stressed the need for the agency to act impartially and avoid high-handed tactics. “CBI should be like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion.”

The term “caged parrot” first came to haunt the CBI in 2013, when it was pulled up by the Supreme Court for alleged interference in its investigation into the allocation of coal licences to private companies, which came to be known as the ‘Coalgate’ scam.

Censuring the central investigating agency, a three-judge bench headed by Justice RM Lodha had said it was a “caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”.

Since the BJP came to power in 2014, the Congress and other opposition parties have repeatedly accused the party of misusing agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department. The voices have only grown louder with the arrest of leaders like the Congress’ P Chidambaram and DK Shivakumar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s K Kavitha and the AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, among others.

The opposition parties have alleged that the BJP has been using the threat of investigation by the agencies to either stifle dissent against the government or compel them join the ruling party.

AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “What the Supreme Court has said about central investigating agencies is a big rebuke to the Centre. The court has said that the ‘caged parrot’ observation still holds true and that the central investigating agencies were engaged in a conspiracy to keep Mr Kejriwal in jail.”