SC verdicts on Kejriwal and Soren: unfair

The contrast is too obvious to miss. Two chief ministers, Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren, who represented the states of Delhi and Jharkhand respectively, were arrested and jailed by a central agency – the Enforcement Directorate – in money laundering cases.

The ED served ten summons to Kejriwal in a liquor scam case, who failed to appear even once. After being arrested and imprisoned, he did not leave his post as CM.

Unlike Kejriwal, Soren responded to the ED’s summons twice and appeared before the ED for questioning at his office in Ranchi. Moreover, before being arrested by the ED, Soren resigned from the post of CM.

Despite the merits of the judicial decision, the Supreme Court appears to have treated them differently.

On the one hand, Kejriwal has been granted interim bail until June 1, while Soren has not yet been granted bail and hence remains in jail.

Records revealed that Aam Aadmi Party chief Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor excise policy scam.

Meanwhile, the apex court ruled on Soren’s plea, noting that he can raise all the pleas and arguments in his other petition challenging the May 3, 2024 order of the High Court.

The Jharkhand High Court, in its May 3 order, rejected Soren’s plea challenging his arrest in a money laundering case. Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the land scam case on January 1.

The investigation against Soren involves huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by the falsification of official documents by showing “fake sellers” and buyers under the guise of forged or falsified documents to acquire huge plots of land valued in millions of dollars.

“The power to grant interim bail is commonly exercised in a number of cases. Interim bail is granted depending on the facts of each case. This case is not an exception,” the SC order said on Friday.

Yet, two different judgments passed by the SC on two CMs – Kejriwal and Soren – who were accused of money laundering cases imposed on them by a central agency – the ED, have raised many eyebrows.

Consider the different responses of people and political parties. In Delhi, as the news spread like wildfire, Kejriwal’s party, the AAP, called it a “triumph of truth.”

On microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Kejriwal’s wife Sunita posted in Hindi: “Hanuman ji ki jai.

This is the victory of democracy. This is the result of the prayers and blessings of millions of people. A big thank you to all. » In Jharkhand, the scene was different. “The Supreme Court has exposed itself to the accusation of bias from its judges.

They do not make judgments on the basis of objective criteria of proof.” “I have studied the statements made by the judges of the top court who passed judgments in the Kejriwal and Soren cases. They are biased and don’t deserve to be who they are.