The Supreme Court on July 12 granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on money laundering charges linked to the Delhi excise policy case, but asked him to take a call on whether he should now step down from office in light of the allegations arraigned against him.
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta underscored that Kejriwal occupies an office of influence as well as constitutional importance. The court cannot direct an elected leader to step down from the office of a “functional” Chief Minister, Justice Khanna said.
It would be better if Kejriwal himself made a decision, Justice Khanna noted.
This is the second time the Supreme Court has allowed interim bail to Kejriwal. The first instance was on May 10, allowing the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. Kejriwal had surrendered on June 2.
Justice Khanna said Kejriwal deserved interim bail. His rights of life and liberty were “sacrosanct”. He has been incarcerated for over 90 days.
However, the Chief Minister would not be actually released from custody. He was separately arrested by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act in connection with the excise policy case on June 25.
The judgment on Friday further referred to a larger Bench questions raised by Kejriwal on the need and necessity to arrest him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
While noting that a need for interrogation cannot be the sole ground for arrest under Section 19 of the PMLA, Justice Khanna said the larger Bench ought to examine and lay down specific parameters for arrest under the PMLA.
The court, in this regard, noted that arrest, currently under the PMLA, was initiated on the “subjective opinion” of the investigating officer unlike the grant of statutory bail under Section 45 of the Act which involved discretion of a court of law.
One of the questions referred to the larger Bench include whether an accused could raise the “need and necessity of arrest” as a separate ground to quash the arrest.
The judgment came on a petition filed by Kejriwal against his arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) under the PMLA on March 21.
The Bench had reserved the petition for judgment on May 21 while allowing Kejriwal to separately approach the trial for regular bail under Section 45 of the PMLA.
Subsequently, a Special Court granted Mr. Kejriwal statutory bail under Section 45 of the PMLA on June 20. Bail under PMLA is applied for in the Special Court under Section 45 of the Act. An accused seeking bail has to satisfy the stringent twin conditions that he is prima facie innocent and is not likely to commit an offence in the future.
But the Delhi High Court stayed the bail on June 25. The ED has alleged Kejriwal’s involvement in the channeling of ₹45 crore in “kickbacks” out of a ₹ 100 crore in “bribe” to AAP coffers to campaign for the Goa Assembly elections in 2022.
The agency has claimed the kickbacks were sent via hawala operators and Kejriwal was the “kingpin” behind the scam.
Senior advocate AM Singhvi, for Kejriwal, has countered these allegations, saying the ED had nothing to show that any money came to his client or was used in the Goa election campaign.
He submitted that Kejriwal’s arrest came a year-and-half after the ED registered a case in August 2023. It had no new evidence against Kejriwal, except “zero-weight” statements recorded from accused-turned-approvers till July last year.
Singhvi had asked why the ED had waited from July 2023 till March 2024 to arrest Kejriwal.
Meanwhile, a court in New Delhi on July 12 extended till July 25 the judicial custody Kejriwal in the corruption case linked to the alleged excise policy scam being probed by the CBI.
Kejriwal was produced through video conferencing before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja. He appeared in connection with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) cases on the expiry of his judicial custody.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had granted him interim bail in the money laundering case linked to the alleged scam.
In May, the ED had filed its seventh supplementary charge sheet in the case, naming Mr. Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as accused. The court had issued a production warrant for Kejriwal and AAP on Tuesday after taking cognisance of the supplementary charge sheet. AAP national secretary Pankaj Gupta represented the party before the court.
Government to observe June 25 as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to mark Emergency
The Government of India has decided to observe the 25th of June every year as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.’ This day will commemorate the massive contributions of all those who endured the inhuman pains of the 1975 Emergency, Home Minister Amit Shah said on July 12.
In a social media post on X, formerly Twitter, Shah said that “the decision by the government is intended to honour the spirit of millions who struggled to revive democracy despite facing inexplicable persecution at the hands of an oppressive government.”
“The observance of ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will help keep the eternal flame of individual freedom and the defense of our democracy alive in every Indian, thus preventing dictatorial forces like the Congress from repeating those horrors,” he added.
A gazette notification issued on Friday by the Union Home Ministry notes that Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975, following which there was “gross abuse of power by the government of the day and people of India were subjected to excesses and atrocities”.
The people of India have abiding faith in the Constitution and the power of its resilient democracy, it said. “Therefore, Government of India declares 25th June as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of Emergency and to recommit the people of India to not support in any manner such gross abuse of power, in future,” says the notification.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that observing June 25 as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will serve as a reminder of what happened when the “Constitution was trampled over”.
The Congress slammed the government’s move to declare June 25 as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’, terming it yet another “headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress General Secretary (In-charge, Communications), Jairam Ramesh said, “Yet another headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy by the non-biological PM who had imposed an undeclared Emergency for ten long years before the people of India handed him a decisive personal, political, and moral defeat on June 4, 2024 -- which will go down in history as ModiMukti Diwas.” “This is a non-biological PM who has subjected the Constitution of India and its principles, values, and institutions to systematic assault,” Ramesh said on X.
Karnataka to appeal against Cauvery panel’s directive to release water to Tamil Nadu
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on July 12 said an appeal will be filed against the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) directive to the State to release 1 tmcft of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu daily till the end of this month.
After a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is also the Water Resources Minister, Ministers from the Cauvery basin area, and officials, Siddaramaiah said that an all-party meeting would be held on July 14 to decide on the State’s next course of action.
“Despite forecasts for normal rains this time, there is a deficit of 28% in inflow so far. This was clearly stated by us in our stand before the CWRC. Also, we requested not to take any decision till the end of July, still CWRC has asked to release 1 tmcft of water every day from July 12,” Siddaramaiah said.
He said today’s meeting opined that the Government should file an appeal against this order before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). “All parties are together on Karnataka’s water issue. Therefore, an all-party meeting will be held (on July 14),” the Chief Minister said.
Union Ministers, Members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Members from the State and MLAs from the Cauvery river basin region will also be invited to the meeting, he said, adding that the Government will decide its next move taking everyone into confidence.
Siddaramaiah said 5,000 cusecs of water is being released to Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu which is equal to the Kabini dam inflow. A total of only 60 tmcft of water is available in all the four reservoirs of the Cauvery basin in the State, he pointed out. “We also need to provide water for agricultural activities. So, keeping in mind the deficit rains, we have requested to wait till July end,” he said.
India’s population to peak in early 2060s to 1.7 billion before declining: United Nations
“India’s population is projected to peak in the early 2060s at about 1.7 billion and then decline by 12%, but India will remain the world’s most populous country throughout the century,” the United Nations has said.
The World Population Prospects 2024 report, released on July 11, said the world’s population is expected to continue growing over the coming 50-60 years, reaching a peak of around 10.3 billion people in the mid-2080s, up from 8.2 billion in 2024. After peaking, the global population is projected to start declining gradually, falling to 10.2 billion people by the end of the century.
India, which surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation last year, will continue to hold that position through 2100.
“The population of India, which is expected to remain the world’s largest throughout the century, will likely decline by 12% after reaching its peak in the early 2060s at about 1.7 billion,” the UN report published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Population Division said.
According to the report, India’s population in 2024 is projected at 1.45 billion and this will peak to 1.69 billion in 2054. After this, India’s population is projected to decline to 1.5 billion by the end of the century in 2100, but the country will still remain the most populous nation on Earth.
Senior Population Affairs Officer, Population Division, UN DESA Clare Menozzi said at a press conference that “India is currently the largest country in the world in terms of population, and it is projected to stay so throughout the century. The population is currently estimated at 1.45 billion, and it’s supposed to increase further” to 1.69 billion.
“It’s supposed to peak around the 2060s in size and then it starts to slightly decline. So by the end of the century, India is projected to be around 1.5 billion, but still the largest country in the world by a large margin.”
The report said that China’s population, currently 1.41 billion in 2024, will fall to 1.21 billion in 2054 and further decline to 633 million by 2100.
“It is anticipated that China, the country currently with the world’s second-largest population, will likely experience the largest absolute population loss between 2024 and 2054 (204 million),” followed by Japan (21 million) and Russia (10 million).
“Longer-range population projections are more uncertain” for China,” it said.
“However, due to its large size and sustained low level of fertility, China is also likely to record the largest population decline of any country through the end of the century (786 million people). By 2100, China is projected to have lost more than a half of its current population and to have returned to a population size comparable to that recorded in the late 1950s (50% probability).”
Responding to a question on the significantly low population projection for China, Director of the Population Division at UN DESA John Wilmoth said that “it really relates to the level of fertility that’s observed currently in China. The current number is right around one birth per woman on average over a lifetime. Given that you need 2.1 births to maintain the current population without migration, if fertility levels remain at such a low level, even if they come up slightly, any fertility level if it’s below two, or especially below 1.8 or below 1.5, you’re really getting into low levels of fertility and it produces a long run decline that’s quite significant. And that’s true for China. It’s true for some other countries in this analysis,” Wilmoth said.
Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ loses vote of confidence in Parliament
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ lost a vote of confidence in Parliament on July 12 after the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) withdrew its support for his government.
Prachanda received only 63 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR) and there were 194 votes against the motion. At least 138 votes are needed to win the vote of trust. A total of 258 HoR members participated in the voting while one member abstained.
Dahal, 69, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), had survived four trust votes since he assumed the prime minister’s post on December 25, 2022.
He faced the same predicament yet another time because ex-premier K.P. Sharma Oli-led Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) withdrew support from the Prachanda-led government last week after inking a power-sharing deal with the largest party in the House — the Nepali Congress (NC).
Earlier, Speaker of the HoR Dev Raj Ghimire put Prachanda’s Vote of Trust for voting according to Article 100 Clause 2 of the Constitution. After voting was completed, he announced that the Vote of Trust was defeated with a majority vote.
Speaker Ghimire will now inform President Ram Chandra Paudel, who will invite two or more political parties to stake a claim for the new government, according to Article 76 Clause 2 of the Constitution. This paves the way for the NC and the CPN-UML to form a new coalition government.
The NC has 89 seats in the HoR, while CPN-UML has 78. Their combined strength of 167 is more than the 138 required for a majority in the lower house. Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba has already endorsed Oli as the next prime minister.
Deuba and Oli inked a 7-point deal on Monday to form a new coalition government.
According to the agreement, they will share the premiership during the remaining period of the House of Representatives —Oli will become the Prime Minister for one and a half years and then Deuba will take the seat for the rest of the period.
Prachanda, whose party had 32 seats in the HoR, was elected the Prime Minister for the third time on December 25, 2022, with the backing of CPN-UML.
Prachanda was elected the Prime Minister as per Article 76 Clause 2 of the Constitution of Nepal, which has a provision for electing a Prime Minister with the support of two or more parties. As the HoR session began in the early afternoon, embattled Prachanda sharply criticised the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML for striking an alliance “out of fear” rather than shared principles and accused them of pushing the nation toward regression.
Prachanda voiced concerns about potential regression and autocracy, asserting that the NC and the CPN-UML had joined forces as good governance began to take root in the country.
In Brief:
The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking the constitution of an expert committee to inquire into the Hathras stampede which has seen more than 121 deaths. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud asked petitioner-lawyer Vishal Tiwari why he had not approached the Allahabad High Court and come directly to the apex court.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
Published - July 12, 2024 08:59 pm IST
