HC grants two addl meetings to Kejriwal with lawyers every wk

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has permitted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to hold two additional virtual meetings with his lawyers every week in jail, saying special situations call for special remedies.

Kejriwal, lodged in judicial custody in the alleged excise scam, was hitherto entitled to two meetings with his lawyers a week, in accordance with prison rules. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna granted the relief to Kejriwal in recognition of his fundamental right to fair trial and effective legal representation.

The AAP leader’s counsel had submitted he was facing around 35 cases across the country and, for a fair trial, he required two additional meetings with his lawyers via video conference. The plea was vehemently opposed by the counsel for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Tihar jail authorities.

The high court rejected the contention that it would amount to special treatment to Kejriwal, saying it is not a situation where any special favour has been sought. It is a fundamental right which has been sought to be enforced, the judge said.

“Special situations call for special remedies. In view of the foregoing discussion, it is held that in recognition of fundamental right of fair trial and effective legal representation, the petitioner be granted two additional legal meetings with the counsel through video conferencing in a week, till he is confined to jail. The petition is accordingly allowed,” the high court said in an order passed on July 18 and made available on Thursday. The court observed prison rules have been framed by the jail authorities concerned after considering all modalities, infrastructure, and the number of inmates there.

Therefore, generally, the courts are slow to interfere in the matters of policy. However, when balancing the policy with the fundamental rights of the jail inmate, the request of the petitioner for two additional legal meetings with his lawyers through video conference, in the given circumstance of the huge number of cases pending against him, cannot be termed “unreasonable”, it said.

The court said it cannot be ignored that similar relief of additional legal meetings was allowed to co-accused and AAP leader Sanjay Singh.

When the ED’s counsel contended that the order with regard to Singh was essentially ex parte, the court said the submission was not tenable since the respondents had appeared in the end while the order was being passed, and even thereafter, it was not challenged by the State. Kejriwal has already been granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in the money laundering case registered by the ED. The court said there was no merit in the State’s

objection that Kejriwal continues to be in judicial custody in the corruption case lodged by the CBI, and nothing prevented him from moving a similar application in that case or other cases pending against him in various states.