HC cautions against protest by lawyers against Kejriwal’s arrest

Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Manmohan on Wednesday cautioned lawyers against staging protests on court premises against the arrest of Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal,

saying the consequences would be “severe”.

The Aam Aadmi Party’s legal cell has called for a protest in district courts here on Wednesday following Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.

“Consequences would be severe for organising protest in court. Courts cannot be withheld. Courts cannot be stopped. We cannot take away someone’s right to approach the court,” Justice Manmohan said.

“If someone does it, they would do it at their own peril,” he asserted.

The issue was mentioned before a bench of the acting chief justice and Justice Manmeet P S Arora by advocate Vaibhav Singh who said that court premises cannot be used for political purposes.

Justice Manmohan said he would take up the issue tomorrow, hoping that “sense will prevail”. He added that action would be taken if required.

Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 and subsequently remanded to ED custody till March 28 by a Delhi court. He faces allegations of

direct involvement in a conspiracy related to the formulation of the excise policy favouring specific individuals.