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The Supreme Court of India has granted conditional bail to K Kavitha, a leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party, in connection with the ongoing Delhi liquor policy scam. Kavitha, who was arrested in March by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and subsequently by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April, had spent over five months in detention. The court's decision, announced on Tuesday, followed the release of Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi, earlier this month. Sisodia, also implicated in the scam, was granted bail after spending over a year in jail, with the court citing the delay in his trial. The Supreme Court, citing similar reasons, deemed that Kavitha's continued imprisonment was unjustified, especially given the completion of the investigation and the unlikely prospect of a swift trial.
The court's decision to grant bail to Kavitha was accompanied by strong criticism directed at the Delhi High Court for its previous rejection of her bail plea. The High Court had denied bail in July, arguing that Kavitha, a former Member of Parliament and an educated woman, did not fit the profile of a 'vulnerable' woman who would typically be granted bail under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Supreme Court deemed this reasoning to be a misapplication of the law, emphasizing that a woman's education or status should not be a basis for denying bail. The court stressed the importance of judicial discretion in such cases, highlighting that a woman's eligibility for bail should not be contingent upon her social standing.
The Supreme Court's decision to grant bail to Kavitha has been met with relief from the BRS, which characterized her detention as politically motivated. The party maintained that she had been imprisoned for 166 days without any evidence to substantiate the allegations against her. The prosecution's case against Kavitha centered around allegations that she had deleted crucial evidence from her phone and tampered with electronic devices. The ED had claimed that Kavitha had wiped clean eight mobile phones and reformatted at least one, but Kavitha vehemently denied these claims. The Supreme Court, while recognizing the prosecution's concerns, dismissed them, noting that deleting messages is a common practice, and that the prosecution's claim that Kavitha's phone contained no messages despite months of usage was illogical. The court imposed several conditions on Kavitha's bail, including a requirement to surrender her passport and avoid tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses.
This case highlights the complexities of the Indian legal system, particularly in matters of bail, where individual circumstances and legal interpretations can play a crucial role in determining the fate of the accused. The Supreme Court's decision underscores the importance of upholding the principle of due process and ensures that the accused are not denied their fundamental rights to a fair trial and liberty.
Source: "Bail Is 'Normal Practice' For Women": Supreme Court Relief For K Kavitha