The Tihar jail superintendent opposed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea in the High Court of Delhi seeking additional meetings with his lawyers to discuss & plan strategies with regard to multiple litigations pending against him, saying that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo cannot be granted “special treatment”.

“That Tihar Prison is currently housing approximately 20,000 inmates (including undertrials & convicts) out of which many of the inmates are facing trials in many cases even more than the petitioner herein, but the Rule 585 of Delhi Prison Rules,2018 is equal for all & the petitioner cannot be granted special treatment. Further providing special treatment to any inmate shall set a wrong precedent & in violation of Delhi Prison Rules, 2018,” the reply filed by the superintendent, Central Jail No 2, Tihar, said.

Rule 585 of Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, allows every inmate to have two physical “mulakat (meeting)” or “e-mulakat” with their family members in a week & two physical meetings or e-legal meetings with their advocates in a week.

Although the matter was listed before a bench of justice Neena Bansal Krishna for Monday, the same could not be taken up due to lack of time & was adjourned to July 18.

Kejriwal had approached the HC against a City Court’s order on July 1, rejecting his plea seeking two additional meetings with his lawyers through videoconferencing.

In the order, the Court said Kejriwal’s legal team failed to provide convincing reasons for the CM to be granted additional meetings, given that a previous plea was also dismissed. To be sure, the City Court, on April 10, dismissed Kejriwal’s plea seeking five additional meetings with his lawyers.

In his plea before the HC, the CM said that multiple cases were pending against him in different states & additional meetings were required to discuss the way forward in various litigations pending against him. The petition underscored that proper legal representation qua 35-40 cases pending against him is his fundamental right.

The CM further sought relief on the grounds of parity, claiming that the Court had allowed co-accused & Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh’s plea for additional meetings. Opposing the claim, the superintendent, in an eight-page reply, said that the order allowing additional meetings to Singh was passed without hearing the opposite side & jail authorities, & considering the relevant jail rules.

Kejriwal has been in custody since March 21 following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, apart from a 21-day interim bail in May granted by the Supreme Court for Lok Sabha election campaigning. On Friday, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the ED case, acknowledging that he has spent over 90 days in incarceration. Still, he would continue to remain in custody due to his arrest in a separate case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) related to the same matter.

The case against the CM stems from allegations of irregularities in Delhi’s now-scrapped excise policy of 2021-22, which the CBI began probing following a recommendation by Delhi’s lieutenant governor in July 2022.

Kejriwal was the third AAP leader arrested in this connection. Former deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been in jail since February 2023, & Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was granted bail by the Supreme Court in April, after six months of custody.

On June 26, he was arrested by the CBI in the Rouse Avenue Court after a sequence of dramatic developments in Court. In the remand note, the agency alleged that Kejriwal is “one of the main conspirators of the criminal conspiracy” & said that Vijay Nair, a former party functionary, was contacting various liquor manufacturers & traders & demanding undue gratification since March 2021. 

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