Manish Sisodia's remand for custodial interrogation by CBI is violation of constitutional principles, says Ex law minister Ashwani Kumar
Feb 28, 2023
New Delhi [India], February 28 : Former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on Tuesday said that Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's remand for custodial interrogation by the CBI is a violation of the constitutional principles, said a statement.
Kumar's statements came after Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Monday sent him to CBI custody for five days.
Sisodia was arrested on Sunday in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Delhi government.
According to the statement, Manish Sisodia's remand for custodial interrogation by the CBI, is, in the overall circumstances of the case, bad in law.
It negates the libertarian philosophy of the Constitution and the Supreme Court's established jurisprudence that bail is the rule and jail an exception, added the statement.
As per the statement, the incarceration of Sisodia for custodial interrogation is in the face of recent Supreme Court decisions that scoff at the routine incarceration of accused persons.
Sisodia's remand is in derogation of the Constitutional principle that justice should not only be done but should also be seen to be done, the statement added.
Considering that investigations in the case have been on since last year and Manish Sisodia has not been arrested to date, the need for custodial interrogation at this stage is highly suspect, as per the statement.
Evidently, even on a prima facie basis, a case of corruption cannot be founded on the basis of inferential deductions. Such an approach is impermissible on the first principles of criminal jurisprudence, added the statement.
The statement further stated that Constitutional freedoms are only as meaningful as the earnestness with which these are protected by the institutions of a democratic State. The Superior Courts are, therefore, called upon to vindicate their custody of the constitution by enforcing the right to liberty in concrete cases brought before them.
The Sisodia case could be one such opportunity considering the totality of circumstances and the politics of it, the statement concluded.
